TEEN ART GALLERY OPENS IN MANHATTAN

Teenagers have proven themselves in the worlds of music and entertainment, why not fine art? Seventeen-year-old Audrey Banks, a junior at Bard High School in Manhattan (and a painter herself), has launched the Teen Art Gallery (T.A.G.) to show “art made by New York City youth.” The first, untitled exhibition debuts next month at the Open Center, 22 East 30th Street, July 7-Aug. 4, 2011. The show features 25 works by artists aged 12-19, who were selected from 700 entries in an open call via email, Facebook and ordinary surface mail to high schools in the five NYC boroughs.

Banks told Artnet News that it was a visit to London art galleries two years ago that sparked her desire to show her work in a gallery. “I really wanted to capture the youth and energy that I thought my artwork held for me then and still does now before my artwork changed or was perhaps even lost in the unpredictable future of adulthood,” she said. Does the show reveal some kind of special “teen esthetic”? “Definitely,” Banks said. “Energy and youth, color and a vibrant aura.”

Banks co-curated the exhibition with the Open Center’s Lola Shepard; other members of the T.A.G. team are Noa Bricklin, Sophie Donlon, Daniel Ramos, Cooper Ray and Sam Williams.

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