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01/05/2009 12:09 AM

Exhibit Allows Viewers To Get Lost In Life's Maze

By: Stephanie Simon

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As you wind your way through the latest exhibition at Exit Art in Hell's Kitchen, it can be a dizzying experience. It's not just a physical maze, it's an intellectual one as well. Artists created the panels to address some of today's biggest social problems -- the war, the economy and discrimination. The installation is called The Labyrinth Wall and Assistant Curator Lauren Rosati said it's a metaphor.

"We wanted to talk about the state of America and the Americas and the state of the world, and everything is very interconnected and how it's this big, inescapable, complicated maze," said Rosati.

More than 50 artists were asked to contribute pieces to this maze of artwork and offer some solutions. Artist Jacolby Satterwhite addressed Proposition 8, a recent amendment to the California state constitution that took away the right of same-sex couples to marry.

"I'm saying no to Proposition 8 and I'm saying we have to come together and learn to access each other and we have to get rid of all of those flat ideas and flat notions that make our country so behind, at times," said Satterwhite.

Just around the corner, artist Scherezade Garcia said she wanted to show how people are overwhelmed by commercialism and media.

"We are kind of like drowning in information but we cannot do anything," said Garcia.

You may feel dizzy while trying to navigate the twists and turns of the gigantic maze.

Viewers can really get turned around in this artistic labyrinth but unlike life's maze, at least this one comes with a map.

That's also part of what the exhibit is trying to show -- that there is a way out of the maze. Artist Anton Vandalen shows our cubicle culture and people falling through the cracks.

"The seedling represents hope and the candle represents the vulnerability of our lives and how that is inside of all of us that still hopes that things will come better and things will pass," said Vandalen.