"Viewpoints" SMI's 14th Annual ExhibitFine & Performing ArtsUpdated on May 16, 2011 View more like this | Visit NEWARK, NJ | Contact Studio Montclair Inc. |
Alice Harrison, aMUSEment, altered book
“Viewpoints"
Studio Montclair’s 14th Annual Juried Show
Featuring the work of 68 national and international artists
Exhibition Dates: June 1 to 25, 2011
Opening Reception and Awards: Thursday, June 9, 2011, 6 – 9 pm
Juror’s Talk: Saturday, June 11, 2011, 1 – 3 pm
Juror: Rocío Aranda-Alvarado
Gallery: Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, 591 Broad Street, Newark, NJ 07102
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Friday 12 pm – 6 pm, Saturday 11 am – 4 pm
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.studiomontclair.org
Studio Montclair Inc. (SMI) announces its 14th annual juried exhibition, View Points: A Contemporary Survey, which opens on June 1 and continues through June 25, 2011, at Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art in Newark, NJ. An opening reception will take place on Thursday, June 9, 2011 from 6 – 9 pm and is free to the public. View Points: A Contemporary Survey features the work of 68 visual artists of international backgrounds who explore how the choice of subject shapes perception.
“Seen together, these works explore a broad scope of abundant conceptual, visual, and expressive themes,” writes Rocío Aranda-Alvarado, Ph.D., who juried the exhibition.
Aranda-Alvarado explains that the exhibition encompasses a broad spectrum of works that touch on a number of themes relevant to contemporary life. Works in this show reflect the personal and the universal, the organic and the abstract, the mundane and the extraordinary. Aranda-Alvarado cites three core themes that inform the personal views embodied in the show: the landscape, human nature, and the abstract.
Ever present, the landscape is an important player in the development of the narrative around the idea of a view point. In the works seen here, the landscape is approached as the subject of a botanical project, an object of romantic admiration or a backdrop to the experience of the everyday. Direct and intimate views of plants that fill the picture plane are offered by Gary Paul Stutler, while more playful, conceptual, and fantastic views are presented in the paintings of Charles Geiger.
Human nature and the effect of humans on the landscape are represented by ghostly figures and family snapshots; by race and social class with their effect on modern society's landscape and by sparing figures and silhouetted forms and how struggle is a powerful, but essential, part of the human condition. Laara Cassells’s whimsical painting is part “Jersey Shore” and part fairy tale. As a young girl leaves behind the fantasy of the white horse, her sullen figure is embellished with early teen concepts of beauty.
Lastly, abstract forms and concepts look at human emotions: Playful shapes and powerful juxtapositions of color beg the viewer to investigate the depth and breadth of a wide range of emotions. Kurt Dyrhaug presents us with enigmatic and suggestive propositions, playful objects that beg our interpretation.
Rocío Aranda-Alvarado is the Associate Curator of Special Projects at El Museo del Barrio in New York City.
Studio Montclair Inc. is a non-profit organization of exhibiting professional and emerging artists and others that promotes culture and education in the visual arts.
Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art is a co-sponsor of View Points: A Contemporary Survey and is open to the public from Wednesday – Friday 12 – 6 pm, Saturday 11 am – 4 pm.
Special thanks to all our sponsors who made this exhibit possible: MTS Frames, Fast Frame, Coco, An Experience, and Oneida Mendez-Law of Coldwell Banker.
This program 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 and administered by the Essex County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs.
“Viewpoints"
Studio Montclair’s 14th Annual Juried Show
Featuring the work of 68 national and international artists
Exhibition Dates: June 1 to 25, 2011
Opening Reception and Awards: Thursday, June 9, 2011, 6 – 9 pm
Juror’s Talk: Saturday, June 11, 2011, 1 – 3 pm
Juror: Rocío Aranda-Alvarado
Gallery: Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, 591 Broad Street, Newark, NJ 07102
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Friday 12 pm – 6 pm, Saturday 11 am – 4 pm
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.studiomontclair.org
Studio Montclair Inc. (SMI) announces its 14th annual juried exhibition, View Points: A Contemporary Survey, which opens on June 1 and continues through June 25, 2011, at Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art in Newark, NJ. An opening reception will take place on Thursday, June 9, 2011 from 6 – 9 pm and is free to the public. View Points: A Contemporary Survey features the work of 68 visual artists of international backgrounds who explore how the choice of subject shapes perception.
“Seen together, these works explore a broad scope of abundant conceptual, visual, and expressive themes,” writes Rocío Aranda-Alvarado, Ph.D., who juried the exhibition.
Aranda-Alvarado explains that the exhibition encompasses a broad spectrum of works that touch on a number of themes relevant to contemporary life. Works in this show reflect the personal and the universal, the organic and the abstract, the mundane and the extraordinary. Aranda-Alvarado cites three core themes that inform the personal views embodied in the show: the landscape, human nature, and the abstract.
Ever present, the landscape is an important player in the development of the narrative around the idea of a view point. In the works seen here, the landscape is approached as the subject of a botanical project, an object of romantic admiration or a backdrop to the experience of the everyday. Direct and intimate views of plants that fill the picture plane are offered by Gary Paul Stutler, while more playful, conceptual, and fantastic views are presented in the paintings of Charles Geiger.
Human nature and the effect of humans on the landscape are represented by ghostly figures and family snapshots; by race and social class with their effect on modern society's landscape and by sparing figures and silhouetted forms and how struggle is a powerful, but essential, part of the human condition. Laara Cassells’s whimsical painting is part “Jersey Shore” and part fairy tale. As a young girl leaves behind the fantasy of the white horse, her sullen figure is embellished with early teen concepts of beauty.
Lastly, abstract forms and concepts look at human emotions: Playful shapes and powerful juxtapositions of color beg the viewer to investigate the depth and breadth of a wide range of emotions. Kurt Dyrhaug presents us with enigmatic and suggestive propositions, playful objects that beg our interpretation.
Rocío Aranda-Alvarado is the Associate Curator of Special Projects at El Museo del Barrio in New York City.
Studio Montclair Inc. is a non-profit organization of exhibiting professional and emerging artists and others that promotes culture and education in the visual arts.
Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art is a co-sponsor of View Points: A Contemporary Survey and is open to the public from Wednesday – Friday 12 – 6 pm, Saturday 11 am – 4 pm.
Special thanks to all our sponsors who made this exhibit possible: MTS Frames, Fast Frame, Coco, An Experience, and Oneida Mendez-Law of Coldwell Banker.
This program 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 and administered by the Essex County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs.
