Visual Aid's HOME FRONT and GET OUT OF JAIL FREE

The purpose of this exhibition is to promote dialogue on illness and art and create visibility and awareness of Visual Aid's programs--especially in Marin, which has the highest concentration of artists per capita of any county in the United States.

Visual Aid encourages artists with life-threatening illnesses to continue their creative work. Each year, over 70 professional, visual artists suffering from disabling, life-threatening illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and Breast Cancer benefit from Visual Aid's programs. Serving Bay Area visual artists from diverse backgrounds, the organization encourages artists to remain active participants in the larger arts community by providing free art supplies, exhibition opportunities, career counseling and other services.

Generously funded by the Marin Community Foundation, Visual Aid presents a three part exhibition. HOME FRONT, features works by 8 Visual Aid artists; GET OUT OF JAIL FREE, 124 small works from local and international artists; and a Timeline and Overview of the AIDS Pandemic, contributed by the Marin AIDS Project.

The title, HOME FRONT, refers to the private, individual struggles of artists living with life-threatening illnesses. Each day, these artists continue their creative work, courageously facing prejudice, isolation and depression, while confronting the powerful side effects of medication and the uncertainty of illness.

HOME FRONT showcases powerful new paintings, photographs, collages and mixed media works by 8 outstanding Visual Aid artists: Michael Beck, Richard Bolingbroke, Barbara Cooper, Martine Jardel, David King, Robert Rice, Nevin Robinson and Veronica Rojas.

GET OUT OF JAIL FREE, is an exhibition exploring the theme of imprisonment as a metaphor for illness, and for other issues of struggle in political, social and personal arenas.

This exhibition is dedicated in loving memory to artist Barbara Cooper, 1950 - 2007.