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For more information, please contact Lex Leifheit at 860-685-2806 or lleifheit@wesleyan.edu.

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY'S ZILKHA GALLERY PRESENTS

THE DISASTERS OF WAR: FROM GOYA TO GOLUB

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EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS TWENTY ARTISTS' PERCEPTIONS OF CONTEMPORARY AND HISTORIC CONFLICTS

The Disasters of War: From Goya to Golub

Ezra and Cecile Gallery, Wesleyan University

283 Washington Terrace

September 10–December 11, 2005

Closed November 24–28

Middletown, CT, August 22, 2005— The Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery at Wesleyan University presents The Disasters of War:  From Goya to Golub, an exhibition of contemporary and historic works by twenty artists that explore the effects of wars spanning four centuries. Organized by Nina Felshin, curator of Zilkha Gallery, the exhibition is comprised of major historical works from Wesleyan's Davison Art Center collection and contemporary work in various mediums including paintings, videotapes, DVD projections, photographs, and installations that explore recent international events.  Incorporated into this exhibition will be the exhibition Inconvenient Evidence: Iraqi Prison Photographs from Abu Ghraib, which was presented last fall at the International Center of Photography in New York and The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.

The Disasters of War: From Goya to Golub will be on view from Saturday, September 10 through Sunday, December 11, 2005. The public is invited to attend the opening reception on Friday, September 9 from 5 to 7pm, which will include a talk by Nina Felshin at 5:30.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a number of ancillary events are planned. David Levi Strauss, art critic and author of Between the Eyes: Essays on Photography and Politics, will present a slide lecture titled Breakdown in the Gray Room: The Images from Abu Ghraib, in which he will examine these images closely, in the context of other recent and historical public images, to better understand their effects. (Tuesday, September 20 at 4:15pm, Zilkha 106). The Coup and Lifesavas, two hip-hop bands known for their style as well as their social commentary, will perform in Crowell Concert Hall (Thursday, October 27 at 8pm). Also, independent of Zilkha Gallery but relevant to the exhibition, the Green Street Arts Center and Connecticut Heritage Productions will present the verbatim theater Guantánamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom, created from personal stories, legal opinion and political debate surrounding the detentions in Guantánamo Bay (Friday & Saturday, October 21–29 at 8pm; Sunday, October 23 & 30 at 3pm and 7pm, 51 Green St. in Middletown). For up-to-the minute information about events related to the exhibition, call 860-685-3355.

According to Felshin, she was inspired to organize the exhibition by a series of events that began with her slide presentation, From Goya to Golub, for the Not In Our Name: Artspeaks Against the War concert in Hollywood in 2002. “I loved the title and it got me thinking about how I might be able to use it again for a primarily contemporary art exhibition, an idea that was encouraged by the outpouring of artistic expression in response to recent events in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.” In addition to being the Zilkha Gallery curator, Felshin is the editor of But Is It Art?: The Spirit of Art as Activism, a collection of essays published by Bay Press.

Among the historical works are five iconic images from Goya’s masterwork series of etchings The Disasters of War, his response to the occupation of Spain by Napoleon’s army during the Peninsula War of the early 19th century. Complementing the Goya prints are three etchings by his predecessor, Jacques Callot from The Miseries and Misfortunes of War (also known as The Large Miseries of War), 1633. Goya was aware of Callot’s etchings. Interestingly, several contemporary artists in the exhibition, including Peter Edlund and Enrique Chagoya, were by inspired by Goya’s work.

At least three artists use news media images as a jumping-off point for works in other mediums. The two mural-size paintings by the late Leon Golub from his Interrogation series are informed by press photographs of torture and political repression in Latin America during the early 1980s. Many have commented on the relevance of Golub’s work to recent events in Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib. As Golub told Art in America in 1991, "I think of myself as a kind of reporter; I report on the nature of certain events. I think of art as a report on civilization at a certain time."

Melanie Baker is represented by two life-size charcoal drawings, which are adapted from photographic images found in The New York Times. One is a portrait of Alberto Gonzales, the recently appointed Attorney General of the United States and an architect of the Bush administration’s policies on torture. Her second drawing represents an intimate example of the impact of the war in Iraq. In both instances, Baker’s seductive drawing style belies the seriousness of her subject matter.

Artist Wayne Gonzales’ mysterious powdered graphite works of the President’s inner circle are derived from images available on the web and created by pressing brushed graphite through a computer-generated stencil. Depending upon the viewer’s physical relationship to them as he or she moves through space, the images seem, almost magically, to appear then disappear. Like Baker, Gonzales is interested in images of power and the complex relationship between photography and the construction and dissemination of history. All three of these artists are equally concerned with aesthetic issues as they are with content or subject matter.

The exhibition includes three video works. Canadian artist Jayce Salloum is represented by a looped DVD projection, untitled part I: everything and nothing, 1999-2000, an intimate dialogue with an ex-Lebanese National Resistance fighter. One year after the end of a traumatic ten-year detention, now studying international law in Paris, she speaks directly into the camera, from her —ironically—cell-like dorm room, not of the torture she endured, but of what is left behind and what remains.

Testimonies by Andrea Wozny (BA’05) consists of the riveting testimonies of several individuals who have experienced the impact of war firsthand, either in Vietnam or in the ongoing war in Iraq. Former U.S. Marine Jimmy Massey tries to control his emotions as he talks about his induction into boot camp, and the culture of Rambo and violent video games in which he grew up. A nurse who served in Vietnam describes the so-called “souvenirs” of that war, a euphemism for the ears and other body parts collected by soldiers.

As a counterpoint to Wozny’s DVD, Aaron Young’s resonant Good Boy, a two minute projected video, reveals a pit bull suspended off the ground in an upright position as it tightly grasps the end of a leash, suspended from a hoist above, with its teeth. The off-camera owner, who controls the movement of the leash and therefore the dog’s, verbally encourages the pit bull’s low, but ominously persistent, growls.  Good Boy was most recently seen in the much-publicized 2005 Greater New York exhibition at PS1/MOMA in Long Island City, New York.

Other artists featured in the exhibition are: Shoshana Dentz, Hans Haacke, Andrew Johnson, Carter Kustera, Robin Martin, Ann Messner, Ligorano/Reese, and Amy Wilson.

The Center for the Arts is an 11-building complex on the Wesleyan campus that houses the departments of art and art history, music, theater and dance as well as film studies events and classes. It serves as a cultural center for the region, the state and New England. The CFA includes the 400-seat Theater, the 260-seat Cinema, the World Music Hall (a non-Western performance space), the 414-seat Crowell Concert Hall and the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery.

Admission to The Disasters of War: From Goya to Golub is free, and open to the public. The Zilkha Gallery will be closed November 24–28. For more information or directions, call 860-685-3355.

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