Fountain House Gallery – the premier venue in New York City representing artists living with mental illness – announces the exhibition Red. The show opens with a reception at Fountain House Gallery, located at 702 Ninth Avenue in Manhattan, on May 25, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, and will remain on view through July 5, 2023.

'Red' is curated by Pamela Bell and Nancy Caton.

Pamela Bell is an entrepreneur, activist, artist, and founder of prinkshop, a social enterprise that creates advocacy campaigns that are designed to be worn. She is one of four founding partners of the retail brands Kate Spade and Jack Spade, and a co-founder with Kenneth Cole of the Mental Health Coalition.

Nancy Caton is a Fountain House Gallery artist who conceived the exhibition’s theme and whose works are among those presented in the show. Her art is greatly influenced by her study of physics and mathematics and articulates the endless natural geometric structures of reality. Prior to her foray into creating art, Caton had an extensive career in the fashion industry including owning her own high-end atelier, Nancy Whiskey & The Sewing Factory. Bell and Caton met in the late 1990s at Kate Spade, where Caton was an integral part of launching clothing production. The two bonded over a shared passion for color, quality and ultimately production.

Unlike and completely different from the usual, conceptual ideas adopted as show subjects, this exhibition’s theme highlights simply a color. By employing red as a motif, exploration of this specific color brings to the fore the various emotions evoked through experiencing this controversial hue. To some, the color red signifies love, while in complete opposition, to others it represents anger. Red is, in particular, a color that elicits divisive reactions. The polarized perception of this primary color ultimately results in a diverse and intriguing articulation of artistic expression.

(Pamela Bell and Nancy Caton)

'Red' showcases more than 40 works in mediums including mixed media, painting, textile, sculpture, found objects, and photography.

Embracing artists who are emerging or established, trained or self-taught, Fountain House Gallery and Studio cultivates artistic growth, makes a vital contribution to the New York arts community, and challenges the stigma surrounding mental illness.