Vernita N’Cognita aka Vernita Nemec is an artist and curator. Working in a variety of media, she came to performance art from a visual art background. Nemec received her B.F.A. in painting from Ohio University and an M.A. from New York University. Since the late 1970’s she has done more than 70 performances and worked with renowned artists Meredith Monk, Kazuko Miyamoto, Frances Alenikoff, Coco Gordon and others. Nemec has performed all over the world including Mexico City, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Budapest, Dublin and Paris, and in New York City at Judson Dance Theater, Printed Matter, Franklin Furnace, Cunningham Studio, and the Guggenheim museum to name a few. She has also been the recipient of numerous awards including the Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art from the Jerome Foundation in 1988 as well as Performance Studies International, the Kauffman Foundation, NYSCA, the National Endowment for the Arts and a Puffin grant in 2007. Nemec participated in Linda Montano’s 7 Years of Living Art project from 2004-2011 and is a member of The Field in NYC. Nemec began working with Butoh in 1999 and has studied with Akira Kasai as well as experimental choreography Deborah Hay. She is currently the director of Viridian Artists, Inc. and maintains a studio in SOHO, NYC. Learn more and see artwork by Vernita N’Cognita @ www.ncognita.com
Viridian Artists’ gallery assistant, Lauren Purje, attended Ohio University where she received a B.F.A. in Painting (2009), was President of the Undergraduate Art League, and coordinator for the student-run gallery, CUBE 4. In 2010, Lauren moved to NY to pursue her art career further. She has assisted various artists in-and-around the city, including Robert Cenedella (Art Students’ League), Jeremyville, and Mark Dion. She herself is a painter and comic artist. Lauren is a contributor to the art blogazine, Hyperallergic, where you can see her comics about art, artists, and the art world on a weekly basis.
Besides showing at Viridian Artists, she has displayed work at Openhouse Gallery (sponsored by Streetwater Arts, NY), Greenpoint Gallery (NY), The Townhouse Art Gallery (NY), Sabay Thai curatorial space (NY), and others. Recently she was a Visiting Artist at Buffalo State University. Her artwork has been published in Dialect magazine and in the book “Fucked in The Pursuit Of Glory.” Coming soon, she will be featured in the comic book collection “My Stupid Raygun” put together by Chris Monday.
To view Lauren Purje’s work, please visit www.laurenpurje.net and at http://hyperallergic.com/author/lauren-purje/ or you can follow her on facebook @ www.facebook.com/purje