|
|
 |
|
|
 |
| Artist Mary Lum
works on her painting, which is part of the exhibit "Up Against the Wall"
opening in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery on Sept. 8. |
|
| Posted 08.24.06 |
"Up Against the Wall" Featured in Gallery Exhibit
|
“Up Against the Wall,” an exhibit featuring art
that relies exclusively on the interior surfaces of architecture for
inspiration and material support, will open at the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha
Gallery on Sept. 8.
Organized by Nina Felshin, curator of Zilkha Gallery, the exhibition
includes work by William McCarthy, gallery supervisor of Zilkha Gallery and Davison Art Center gallery supervisor, as
well as artists Shoshana Dentz, Elana Herzog, Mary Lum and Mary
Temple. Also on exhibit is a collaboration between artist Sol LeWitt and
Alvin Lucier, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music. The collaboration is
executed by Wesleyan students.
Though the stylistic tendencies, technique and method of application or
engagement vary, in each case the work becomes an integral part of the
Zilkha Gallery's architecture. When the exhibit is over, the gallery walls
will be soaped down and repainted, and the works of art will cease to exist.
“The idea for the show has been percolating for some time," Felshin says.
“Finally, a critical mass of artists coalesced in my thinking and summer
seemed to be the perfect time to invite artists to visit the gallery and
execute their new work. The unique architecture of Zilkha Gallery continues, as it
has in the past, to provide a rich source of artistic inspiration."
 The
collaboration between LeWitt and Lucier, “Zug III,” is based on the Alpine
ridge, as viewed from Zug, Switzerland, and consists of lines that repeat
the ridge in a variety of colored markers. It was created in response to a
composition by Lucier, in which he transcribed the mountain range into
musical notation. Lucier's musical piece accompanies the Lewitt wall drawing
(click image at right to open a larger version of this painting).
The work of Lum and Herzog is more concerned with culture than it is with
nature. Herzog's wall-embedded multi-color chenille bedspread is
simultaneously seductive and violent. Lum’s expansive acrylic painted
drawing takes inspiration from the architecture of Zilkha Gallery and from
her ongoing concerns with spatial illusion, the opposition between fact and
fiction and the vagaries of human nature.
Dentz's gouache drawing on Zilkha's huge, wall-sized windows comments on how
viewing art can sharpen one's perception of his or her environment in
general and specifically, in this case, beyond the gallery.
McCarthy, known for his landscape paintings, also applies his talent to
Zilkha's windows. And finally, a fleeting moment from the past is frozen in
time in Mary Temple's trompe l'oeil painting of mysterious shadows.
The public is invited to attend the opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Sept.
8 in the gallery. The event will include a talk by Felshin and comments by
several of the artists.
The gallery is open noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday Sept. 8 through Oct. 8.
Admission is free of charge.
|
|
By Lex Leifheit, press and marking coordinator.
Photos by Olivia Bartlett, The Wesleyan Connection
editor |
|
|
 |
|
|
