A Sight for the Senses: Dance the Distance at Atlantic Gallery in Chelsea

The two-person show of luminous abstract wall works offers viewers a dynamic sensory experience, where light, shadow and unexpected materials form a conversation about how we see and engage with the world.

By Stephen Wozniak

To read the exhibition review, click here: A Sight for the Senses: Dance the Distance at Atlantic Gallery in Chelsea

Dance the Distance
Anne Berlit and Michele Foyer
March 11-23, 2025
Curated by Suzan Shutan
Opening Reception: March 13, 2025 from 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Atlantic Gallery
548 W. 28th Street, #540
New York, NY 10001
(212) 219-3183
https://atlanticgallery.org/
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 12-6 p.m.

EXCERPT

Do you need a break from the data morass? I know that I do. So, sometimes, I love to walk into an art gallery and simply look around. You’ll find, however, that it takes a conscious effort to kindly ignore artist statements, work titles, front desk dialogue and other obstacles that may litter your path to aesthetic enlightenment in a sacred space made not only for artwork but for you—and how you see. Your job as a viewer requires accepting the vision of your unique eyes—and other important sense perceptions—in order to stay in tune. You could say it’s a primary part of our survival. The use and dynamics of those principal perceptions are bigger than all the big ideas that even the biggest artists could dream up and broadcast. Our engagement with the world starts perceptually—and this goes on perpetually. The advent of cultural conceits and philosophical inquiry, of course, comes after. At the end of the day, our perceptions can be dressed up with promising narrative concerns, but we can’t get around our reconciliation with perception. And because perceptions vary so greatly among us, it’s important not only to accept them, but to embrace their palpable presence and lessons.

The best route towards that embrace, I believe, is to prompt your viewing audience to get involved, to look carefully and to experience the art at hand—instead of merely reading it like a book. And so, the work of Anne Berlit and Michele Foyer does just that in the new exhibition Dance the Distance, testing our perception and ideas of what art is in ways we might not expect.