SPECIAL EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS BY ARTIST ROUSSIMOFF IN HISTORIC LODGE ROOM

MASONIC EXHIBIT 2013, PRESS RELEASE

For information contact: Vivian Forlander 212-620-0652 or

Director Thomas M. Savini 212-337-6620

Email: forviv@aol.com

or

tmsavini@nymasoniclibrary.org

Website: www.roussimoff.com

For Immediate Release:

MASONIC GRAND LODGE OF NEW YORK TO FEATURE SPECIAL EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS BY ARTIST ROUSSIMOFF IN HISTORIC LODGE ROOM

KING HIRAM'S APRON

By Ari Roussimoff

Starting March 12th, 2013, the Masonic Grand Lodge of New York will be presenting a week long exhibition of paintings by international artist and Freemason Ari Roussimoff.  In the Roussimoff exhibition, “A Traveling Artist: Russian Soul, American Magic and The Light of Freemasonry”, paintings will include compositions devoted to the culture and history of Freemasonry, Old Russia, Circus Sideshow and selections from his “A Russian Views America” series. This exhibition will also be a unique opportunity for the general public to visit one of the historic Masonic Lodge rooms, the French Doric Room (10^th Floor), at the landmark Grand Lodge building located at 71 West 23^rd Street. In over one hundred years, these ornate lodge rooms were used exclusively for members to hold their meetings and conduct ceremonies.

Freemasonry has a very rich history and tradition and members have included such luminaries as President George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Theodore Roosevelt, Mozart, Franz Liszt, Kaiser Wilhelm I, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, Voltaire, Garibaldi, Casanova, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini, Oliver Hardy, Ernest Borgnine, Roy Rogers, Harold Lloyd and John Wayne. It was this rich legacy combined with highly moral philosophies and culture that influenced Mr. Roussimoff to join the Masonic fraternity, and the fact that the legendary magician Houdini attended lodge meetings in this very building inspired the artist to want to show his paintings in this most untraditional venue.

Ari Roussimoff is a prolific painter as well as a director of films. His paintings of Russian, Ukrainian and Jewish themes have earned him much acclaim and they have been shown in over 80 exhibitions worldwide, including at the Nakhamkin Fine Arts Galleries, M.L. International Gallery of Fine Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, A & J Galleries, The Bucharest Rumania Museum, The Nicholas Roerich Museum, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of Grand Lodge, and many others. Among the many who have lauded Ari Roussimoff's paintings were the modern masters Marc Chagall and Oskar Kokoschka.  A multi-media artist, Mr. Roussimoff has directed several movies, among them the critically acclaimed documentary on the changing history of the perception of physical human anomalies, “Freaks Uncensored! A Human Sideshow”. 

Roussimoff paintings can also be seen displayed in the building’s library and museum on the 14^th Floor (The Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of Grand Lodge).

The exhibition runs from March 12^th through March 19^th 2013 . Hours are from 2PM to 8PM.

The opening night is Tuesday, March 12^th   at 6PM. The artist will give a talk about the influence of Freemasonry in his work.

The Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of Grand Lodge
71 W 23rd Street
New York, NY 10010-4171
(212) 337-6620
info@nymasoniclibrary.org