Commit to Memory: The Precipice of Extinction
By Cheryl Gross
On view: June 5-July 3
Opening: Fri, June 5 | 5-7pm
Exhibition statement:
Commit to Memory: The Precipice of Extinction is a multi-platform, social commentary addressing the shifting and eventual disappearance of our culture using animals as metaphors with overall goal being socially relevant as well as visually compelling.
Using animals on the endangered species list I have created a multi-media graphic audiovisual representation of society teetering on the verge of collapse. Artistic depictions of animal species as victims illustrate the decline of the American democratic system. Use of the word “extinction” throughout the narrative is the blueprint of this project.
The Elephant alludes to the destruction of family and community. Scientists have long used footage of elephant rescues to measure humanities ability to feel empathy. This aspect of the project questions the impulse to kill animals that make us feel “love.”
The Penguin explores the disappearance of societal structures. With the destruction of the artic certain penguins are left with nowhere to go except man-made exploitive habitats such as Sea World. What is life when our last option resembles a prison?
The Frog alludes to complete extinction caused by disease through globalization. The African Bullfrog was brought to the Americas for one purpose—to be living pregnancy tests for humans. These creatures, used to predict life, eventually became the destruction of an entire species of frogs as they carried a fungus eradicating the indigenous golden frog. This is reminiscent of indigenous peoples succumbing to European diseases.
The Tiger explores the emotional impact due to the fact of how home and territory is rapidly being diminished by development. By obliterating our environment, we are left to somehow adjust to new social order and redefine the norm. The contributing factors such as war, globalization, gentrification and handouts, continue to pave the way but it is not without consequence.
About the artist:
Brooklyn native Cheryl Gross is an illustrator, painter, writer and motion graphic artist living and working in the New York/ Jersey City area. She is a professor at Pratt Institute.
Cheryl’s work has appeared in numerous films, TV shows, publications, and graces the walls of many corporate and museum collections including: Zebra Poetry Film Festival, Berlin, New York Times, Riverside Museum, Riverside, Ca., The Museum of The City of New York, Mississippi Museum of Art, Laforet Harajuku Museum, Tokyo, Japan, Artist-In-Residency, Kunstlerhaus, Saarbruken, Germany. Finalist Elizabeth Hulings Foundation, 2014, Artist-In-Residency Program, Dilsberg, Germany, 2015, four-time recipient Eileen Kaminsky Family Foundation Residency, Jersey City, 2018-2020, Art fair 14c 2021-2023. 2023- Commit to Memory: The Precipice of Extinction, Louis K. Redding Gallery, Wilmington Delaware, Curated by The Bridge Gallery, 2023, The Z Factor: The Hybrid Realms of Cheryl Gross, MANA Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ, Curated by Kristin DeAngelis, Design: Kele McComsey, 2025, The Ethereal Realms of Mythology: Past & Present, Art House Productions Gallery, Jersey City, NJ, Curated & Design: Andrea Mckenna
