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Paintings Inspired by War in Afghanistan on View at Ben Shahn Galleries

“Mountains, Barriers and Poppy Fields,” a collection of paintings by artist Bascha Mon that explores the question of Afghanistan, its people, our government and the war, is on view at the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University in Wayne from March 21 to April 22. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

Mon’s influence for the theme depicted in her paintings came from a black and white photograph in The New York Times of a fierce mountain at the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Featured in the exhibit in Ben Shahn’s East Gallery are paintings of mountains and fields of poppies. For Mon, poppies have become the symbol for “the greed and anguish of war,” because money from the cultivation of the poppy fields funds the heroin trade and funds the ongoing war. Mon uses actual red paper poppies and embeds them in “The American Legion Veterans Poppy Field #4.”

Mon has exhibited internationally and has work in both private and museum collections. She has received three fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, one each for painting, drawing, and sculpture. A graduate of Skidmore College, she has studied at New York University, the Arts Students League, the School of Visual Arts and Pratt Institute. She currently teaches “Pushing the Limits,” a painting class at the Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton.

The exhibit is one of three shows on view concurrently in the Ben Shahn Galleries. In the South Gallery is “Betty McGeehan: The Deforestation Series,” a selection of abstract sculpture. On view in the Court Gallery is “Objects of Power: Selections from the Joan and Gordon Tobias Collection of African Art.”

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, 973-720-2654.

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