FORECLOSED DREAMS by David H. Wells at Yellow Peril

Providence, RI, March 16, 2013 --(PR.com)-- FORECLOSED DREAMS by David H. Wells

Guest Curated by Viera Levitt

April 18 – May 12, 2013

Opening Reception:
Thursday, April 18, 2013, 5PM – 9PM
During Gallery Night Providence

Salon at The Providence Athenaeum:
Friday, April 19, 2013, 5PM – 7PM
Sponsored by James Brayton Hall

Special Performances of Gather by Community MusicWorks throughout April:

Dates to be announced online

Gallery Hours:
Thursday + Friday, 3PM – 8PM
Saturday + Sunday, 12PM – 5PM
Other days by appointment.

Yellow Peril Gallery is pleased to present FORECLOSED DREAMS, a photo essay by David H. Wells exploring the empty homes and foreclosed dreams in the wake of the foreclosure crisis. This exhibition is guest curated by Viera Levitt.

Owning a home is the American dream. However, numerous American homeowners are either behind on their mortgage payments or in the process of foreclosure. Their empty homes are powerful symbols of lives shattered and families devastated. This is the reality FORECLOSED DREAMS documents and explores.

“I focused on empty homes, as they are immovable objects and stand in stark contrast to the highly mobile American dream. I chose not to focus on individual families in foreclosure because I wanted to explore the issue from a broader perspective,” notes Well. “The final work is made more powerful by its lack of literalism and its attention to chillingly mundane objects. An open-ended canvas, viewers can project their own ideas into the photographs – about home, America and family into the empty spaces of the houses.”

Spreading across the nation like an epidemic, the number of foreclosures is so vast and the problem so overwhelming that most people considering the issue simply get lost among the numbers. Wells started the project in April of 2009, with the goal of understanding the economic upheaval we are living through. He initially photographed in the Central Valley of California, an epicenter of the foreclosure crisis, but also focused on Rhode Island where he lives, which has a foreclosure rate very similar to that of California.

“Telling the story visually connects the viewer to the realities on the ground,” says Wells. “The work explores the large numbers and the intimate nature of the traumatic losses others suffered. Simply put, my audience is anyone who is worrying about the possible foreclosure of their own dreams, those who have already experienced that trauma and anyone concerned or interested in what’s happening to the American dream.”

On Friday, April 19, the Providence Athenaeum will host a Salon featuring photographer David H. Wells, Community MusicWorks Managing Director Kimberly Young, and Yellow Peril Curator Robert P. Stack in a conversation exploring the role of the arts in promoting social change. The discussion will highlight Wells' work, as well as Community MusicWorks' project, Gather, taking place throughout April, in which the musicians of CMW will partner with designers and a community development organization to host a series of intimate performances of Beethoven's final composition for string quartet in a formerly distressed private home in Providence's Olneyville neighborhood. Performance dates will be shared online when finalized. The Salon is from 5PM to 7PM at the Providence Athenaeum, 251 Benefit Street, and is free and open to the public; the sponsor is James Brayton Hall.

The opening reception for FORECLOSED DREAMS is on Thursday, April 18, from 5PM – 9PM during Gallery Night Providence. The exhibition will be on display through Sunday, May 12, 2013.