WILLIAMSBURG – The Linda Matney Gallery has opened its latest exhibition, which focuses on the human psyche associated with struggles to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Linda Matney Gallery, located at 5435 Richmond Rd in Williamsburg, develops thematic group exhibitions and collaborative art projects with local artists as well as artists from all over.

The gallery’s current exhibition, titled “The Task That Is The Toil”, features many prominent artists in Georgia, Virginia, New York, California, Brazil and France, including Art and Margo Rosenbaum, who were key artists of the arts of Athens, Georgia. and the music scene of the 1970s and 1980s.

Gallery owner and curator John Lee Matney, who was also involved in the Athenian scene, photographed Jeremy Ayers, a prominent songwriter and artist from the South.

Early in the pandemic, one of Ayers’ photographs of Matney was featured in Grace Elizabeth Hale’s book, “Cool Town: How Athens, Georgia, Launched Alternative Music and Changed American Culture”.

The image was shot in 1994, but following the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, Matney made a new version of the image to express his interpretation of the event.

Ayers, who Matney described as a mysterious figure from Athens interested in helping people achieve their dreams, was interested in Jungian psychology.

“Ayers was very attached to Jungian psychology,” said Matney. “I thought of this idea which is ‘The task which is toil’, which is based on the quote from Virgil that is in the works of Carl Jung.”

Virgil’s quote, “Easy is the descent to Avernus; But to retrace your steps and go out in the air above, it is the task, it is the toil, ”struck Matney during the pandemic and the riot of the Capitol.

“I said” what if we did a show that sort of talked about the dream state, some kind of pandemic emergence and the struggles that come with it? “said Matney.

Matney considers the exhibition monumental, as it features both artists from Athens and notable locals, including Professor Ryan Lytle of Christopher Newport University (CNU) and artists Jennifer Nagle Myers and Thomas Lowel Edward.

The exhibition also features works of art by musicians from Athens, such as Karen Allison, artist and digital content assistant for the group Love Tractor and Vanessa Briscoe Hay, the lead singer of the group Pylon.

“It’s exciting to have a bunch of people on the show showing some kind of friendship,” Matney said. “If you read ‘Cool Town’ you see that kind of energy, that friendship, that creative process.”

Matney said residents of Williamsburg can experience new aspects of art.

“They can appreciate art beyond just looking at a painting,” he said. “It’s more about participating and seeing elements of a psyche and an art history and culture, and they can get something out of that and that can translate into their own experience.”

The exhibition will run until Sunday, November 14.

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