our history
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Curtains is ultimately an artivims project - a work of protest Art against those who shield dangerous actors in our society.
In 2018 a group of academics, artists, and ordinary citizens concerned about, the human and health crisis caused by the distribution and consumption of legally delivered opioids, join their efforts and opinions to make it evident and manifest against it, under the leadership of the artivist Fernando Alvarez, with the result of Opioid: Express Yourself! on June 22, 2018, launched by the Alvarez Gallery in Stamford, CT.
The show curated by Fernando Alvarez under the expression of art as artivism gave Alvarez Gallery artists the opportunity to denounce and hold accountable the architects of the opioid epidemic, including pharmaceutical suppliers, politicians, the FDA, distributors, and doctors.
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Both the Opioid: Express Yourself! show and The Spoon Movement sought justice for opioid survivors and their family members. The team view their ongoing activist efforts as meant to raise awareness of the fraud and conspiracy engineered by large pharmaceutical providers and the mounting death toll of the opioid crisis. We believe that the Sackler family and their company Purdue Pharma are especially responsible. We fight not only for the Sacklers to face justice but in hopes that the opioid epidemic ends and no such national tragedy ever happens again.
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The important emerging and mid-career artists profiled in the Opioid: Express Yourself show created international awareness of the crisis and influenced movements throughout the country. Since the show, we've seen promising activism: hundreds of Facebook pages have been launched to organize anti-Purdue protests, and many best-selling books have been written about the Sacklers' doings. But we cannot be placated or fooled by the appearance of change. In terms of our actual objectives, there is more to do. A great deal of nothing has transpired in regards to opioid relief and pharmaceutical actors' prosecution. The American system has proven itself very capable of protecting the Sacklers.
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Together with our heroic group of research experts, art handlers, graphic designers, camera crew, and patrons we're at it again, this time, facing the justice system head-on.
Take 2, 2018 17,000 ceramic pieces 8’ x 3’ 243.84 x 91.44 cm
Prescribed Ruins, Take 2, 2018 Found Objects (wood, bathroom wall and tiles, medicine cabinet, and prescription vials) 53" x 65" x 4.5" 134.62 x 165.1 x 11.43 cm
The P.I.L.L. Oil on board 10" x 8" 25.4 x 20.3 cm
Take 2, 2018 17,000 ceramic pieces 8’ x 3’ 243.84 x 91.44 cm