| Memorial
Art Gallery
The
permanent collection of the Memorial Art Gallery can seem scattered
and spotty if you stack it up to the Albright Knox in Buffalo but many well known artists
are represented here with some real gems. There is
a Philip Guston hanging there called "Reverse", a beautiful
Arthur Dove, a Hans Hoffman, a Neil Welliver and a Thomas Hart Benton that are
well worth visiting.
These are some of my personal favorites from the MAG's permanent collection.
Philip Guston "Reverse" at the MAG
Everett Shinn "Sullivan Street 1900-1905"
The Gallery has brought some
very memorable shows to town in the last few years. I'm
not talking about the Degas Sculpture or the Maxfield Parrish
shows. They may have been moneymakers but they were less than
inspiring. The "Twentieth Century Still-Life Paintings"
from the Philips Collection was great and the "Self Taught
Artists Of The Twentieth Century" Show was sensational.
And there was an installation show that was fun (and controversial
for some reason).
And the MAG has a great little store with local craft ware, some local art work and and a nice book selection. Nancy Kelly ran this store for years and it still carries her creative touch. We've even seen Ann Havens and Shelley Valochovic work here.
This
horse is the perfect antidote to the clumsy Horses
On Parade that littered our fair city. You can
view it any time you like on the front lawn of the Memorial
Art Gallery. It looks like it was made of wood but it is made
of metal.
In 2004 the MAG hosted
the first Rochester Biennial which like the Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition showcases both emerging and established artists from upstate
New York. Unlike the juried Finger Lakes, however, the Biennial
is an invitational. The Gallery's director and curators selected
six exceptional artists to participate. This is a brave move,
the choices were gutsy and the work is beautifully displayed.
The
show featured beautiful mixed media, conceptual garment pieces
by Judith Olson Gregory of Rochester, amazing welded steel constructions
that are formed and lit in a way to cast shadows that suggest
forms that are not visible in the metal by Larry
Kagan of Troy and books made of willow branches by John McQueen
of Saratoga. The books look a bit like the horse shown above.
Karen Sardisco also of Rochester filled a room with intriguing,
big, mixed media, organic form drawings in red.
Memorial
Art Gallery
Extreme Materials - January 29 - April 9, 2006
The Memorial Art Gallery pulled out all the stops with "Extreme Materials" Jan.29 - April 9, 2006. The Exhibition opening on February 4 featured live music from Margaret Explosion and Dreamland Faces.
Dirt
Baby 2000 (edition of 10) is from James Croak's Dirt Baby series
and was cast in dirt. In an interview James Croak says, "I
had a bad start: my mother died when I was only two, I was passed
around relatives for the next four years, typically living in
one place during the week and another during the weekends. Hence
my sense of the world is that it is a very unstable and scary
place."
Most
of the work in Extreme Materials was created since 2000 and
these contemporary artists use non traditional materials like
garden hoses, pencil shavings, fish skins, carrots, rubber tires,
eggshells and smog. Vietnamese-born photographer Binh Danh, uses the sun to print pictures on leaves.
Binh Danh, Found Portraits Collection: from the Cambodian Killing Fields at Tuol Sleng, 2003 Chlorophyll print and resin 18.25 x 53 inches framed
Two
installations from Extreme Materials went on view early in MAG's
Lockhart Gallery before the show. This "teaser" featured
Kim Abeles' dishes etched with smog. She created her Presidential
Commemorative Smog Plates by exposing stenciled plates to the
elements on the roof of her Los Angeles home; the more egregious
a president's record on the environment, the darker the exposure.
The work was made in 1992 so it stops at the first Bushman.
There are quotes from each of the presidents and Reagan's was
interesting. "Approximently 80% of our air pollution stems
from hydrocarbons released by vegetation so let's not go overboard
in setting and enforcing tough emission standards". Needless
to say his image was one of the darkest.
 Larissa
Brown creates her pieces from office supplies.
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