INFORMATION FOR
“Departures,” the annual national juried art exhibition sponsored by Studio Montclair, will be on view at William Paterson University’s Ben Shahn Galleries from February 1 through March 5, 2010. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. A reception for the exhibit will be held on Sunday, February 7 from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
The show, in Ben Shahn’s East and South Galleries, includes works by 55 contemporary artists from across the United States. The exhibit, curated by Phong Bui, an artist and the publisher of the journal The Brooklyn Rail, includes artworks in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, photography, film and video.
“This year’s annual exhibit reveals not only the usual diverse styles and attitudes toward art making but also the artists’ fierce commitment to each of their personal visions of the immediate and surrounding world,” says Bui. “By filtering through internal and external senses in their application of either representational or abstract forms, the selected artists all seem to share a common recognition of the tremendous difficulty of making art in troubled times without compromising their keen observations of both high and low culture.”
Among the artists featured in the exhibit is Ron Brown of South Orange, who will exhibit “Downtown Milan,” a sepia print from his Italy series. The central architectural image is sliced through with patterns created by overhead wires. This interest in geometry is seen repeated in the cobblestone street below.
In “East Meets West,” Peter Tilgner of Tenafly merges two disparate images. “My goal is to create pictures whose merged parts appear to belong together, are rich in color, and supported by strong composition,” he explains. “For me, photography is a means to an end. Each work I create is intended to engage a viewer’s mind in a setting comprised of information that is at once familiar and out of context in the world from which it was drawn thus giving it a ‘Surrealistic accent.’”
Caroline McAuliffe of Jersey City found inspiration on a study abroad trip to Luca, Italy. The sensation of the Tuscan light was a strong influence in developing a series of ephemeral paper drawings, including “Fision,” and “Convergence,” which are composed of carved paper.
Trees have formed the basis for the photographs of Yvette Lucas of Montclair since 2002. Her most recent works portray town and city trees, which have been tamed and pampered by their owners. “The physical changes that transform trees through their interaction with nature and humans stir a psychological and emotional response in me,” she says. “I hope to share those feelings of identity and empathy with the viewer so that they mat see these beings as they see themselves: A consequence of their environment, circumstance, and nature.”
According to Bui, the exhibition as a whole is predicated on the point of convergence where diverse perspectives intersect, overlap and assert. “The selected works evoke the complexity of the experience of reality while intensifying different expectations of how works of art can be even more meaningful in difficult times,” he says.
Other participating artists include Katharyn Addcox, Linda Aldrich, Peter Aldrich, Donald Axleroad, Amy Becker, Brad Thomas Birchett, Nicholas Cairns, Ann Calandro, Karen Ciaramella, Lee Clarke, Matthew Derezinski, Ed Derwent, Joel Edwards, Harriet Balaran Finck, John Fletcher, Tate Foley, M. Foster, George S. Gati, Tim Gaydos, Daniel Gerwin, Laura Gravenstine, Susan Jacobs, Hall Jameson, Joe Johnson, Andrew Jones, Yoon Ja Kim, Karen Kruger, K. Kuster, Milt Masur, Jennie Mynhier, Joy Nagy, Walter Oliver, Glenn Palmer-Smith, Anne Percoco, Andrea Placer, Svetlana Rabey, Calvin Roberts, Matt Roberts, Larry Scaturro, Benjamin J. Shamback, Sonia Stark, Tina K. Stevens, Marilyn Stevenson, D. B. Stovall, Barbara K. Suomi, Kikuko Tanaka, Rafael Vargas, Andrew Verhoeckx, William Waggoner, Lika Yurkovetsky and Sue Zwick.
Bui is a founding member and publisher of the award-winning monthly journal "The Brooklyn Rai, which providies an independent forum for arts, culture and politics throughout New York City. As a professional artist, Bui is also an award-winner having received recognition from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Academy of Design. Bui's curatorial experience spans a decade and he currently serves as a visiting senior critic at Brooklyn College, University of Texas at Austin, Rhode Island School of Design and Columbia University.
The exhibit is one of two shows on view concurrently in the Ben Shahn Galleries. “Objects of Power: Selections from the Joan and Gordon Tobias Collection of African Art,” on view in the Court Gallery, draws on the University’s 700-object collection of African sculpture, masks, jewelry, dress, baskets, and decorative objects.
This exhibit is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Ben Shahn Galleries are wheelchair-accessible. Large-print handouts are available. For additional information, please call the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University at 973-720-2654.
Note to reporters and editors: Downloadable photographs are available at http://ww2.wpunj.edu/publicityphotos/BenShahnGalleries/Departure/
# # # #
www.wpunj.edu
