Tabula Rasa
Curated by Evonne M. Davis
Gallery Aferro 73 Market St Newark NJ aferro.org
March 21 - May 16, 2009
Opening Reception March 21, 7-10 PM

with fully illustrated color catalog, essay by artist Ryan Schroeder

Tabula Rasa (' tabyoolə ˈrasə; ˈrazə) refers to an absence of preconceived ideas or predetermined goals; a clean slate. The phrase carries baggage from belief systems in which the human mind at birth is viewed as having no innate ideas. Denying what is obvious is practiced as a gesture of resistance by some of the artists, most or all of whom are affected, however indirectly, by the notions derived from existentialism and the nothingness of existence, ennui. Inspired curatorially by the concept of residual information that persists after erasure, the exhibition is one of several to date by Evonne M. Davis concerning the nature of knowing, learning and unlearning.

ORIGIN Latin, literally 'scraped tablet,' denoting a tablet with the writing erased.