Thursday, February 26, 2009

Cezanne in Philly

From ArtDaily.org:
Philadelphia is the Only Venue for a Major Exhibition Exploring Cézanne's Impact on Artists


Henri Matisse, (French, 1869 – 1954), Fruit, Flowers, and The Dance, 1909. Oil on canvas, 35 x 45 5/8 inches. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. © 2009 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

PHILADELPHIA, PA.- In 1907, the French painter Paul Cézanne’s posthumous retrospective astonished younger artists, accelerating the experimentation of European modernism. Cézanne (1839-1906) became for Henri Matisse “a benevolent god of painting,” and for Pablo Picasso “my one and only master.” Cézanne’s inclusion in the Armory Show in New York in 1913 also offered American artists a new direction. Cézanne & Beyond (February 26 through May 17, 2009) will examine the seismic shift provoked by this pivotal figure, examining him as form-giver, catalyst, and touchstone for artists who followed. It will survey the development of an artistic vision that anticipated Cubism and fueled a succession of artistic movements, and will juxtapose Cézanne’s achievement with works by many who were inspired directly by him, showing a fluid interchange of form and ideas. It will place his work in context with more recent artists like Ellsworth Kelly, Jasper Johns, and Brice Marden, who in quite different ways came to terms with the master of Aix-en-Provence. His profound impact on successive generations endures to the present day. The exhibition will present more than 150 works, including a large group of paintings, watercolors and drawings by Cézanne, along with those of 18 later artists.

The artists included, in chronological order, are Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Marsden Hartley, Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Charles Demuth, Max Beckmann, Liubov Popova, Giorgio Morandi, Alberto Giacometti, Arshile Gorky, Ellsworth Kelly, Jasper Johns, Brice Marden, and Jeff Wall, Sherrie Levine, and Francis Alÿs.

The exhibition is organized by Joseph J. Rishel, The Gisela and Dennis Alter Curator of European Painting before 1900, in collaboration with Philadelphia Museum of Art colleagues, including the late Director Anne d’Harnoncourt, and Kathy Sachs, Adjunct Curator, Michael Taylor, The Muriel and Philip Berman Curator of Modern Art, and Carlos Basualdo, The Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Curator of Contemporary Art. They are joined by a group of international scholars who have both advised on the selection and contributed to the catalogue. “The exhibition is about the pleasures of experiencing the interaction of artistic ideas in a creative dialogue across a continuum,” Rishel said. “The installation will juxtapose works from the past and present, with Cézanne as the generative pivot. Rather than charting a chronology of influence, we are especially interested in examining artistic ideas in motion, extended, reformulated, and transmuted by the hands of different artists. I’d like to think that the viewer will be able to experience it in a completely non-linear way, always circling around to Cézanne.”

All of the artists in the exhibition have acknowledged Cézanne’s profound impact on their work. When Henri Matisse (1869-1954) donated his Cézanne painting of Three Bathers to the Petit Palais in 1936, he wrote: “in the 37 years I have owned this canvas, I have come to know it quite well, though not entirely, I hope; it has sustained me morally in the critical moments of my venture as an artist; I have drawn from it my faith and my perseverance…” Picasso (1881-1973) in his long and varied artistic career often used Cézanne as a lever in his critical shifts, from his Self-Portrait with Palette, through to the lyricism of La Rêve, and onto his later examination of bathing subjects both as painting and sculpture. Braque, who with Picasso used Cézanne as his principle touchstone early on, spent time at several of Cézanne’s painting locations. For him “it was more than an influence, it was an initiation.”

Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), who was drawn especially to the formal structure achieved by Cézanne, brings an analysis of Cézanne to an abstract conclusion, as reflected in his own words “... that beauty in art is created not by the objects of representation, but by the relationships of line and color.” “Cézanne taught me the love of form and volumes,” Fernand Léger (1881-1955) once remarked, and “the power of Cézanne was such that, to find myself, I had to go to the limits of abstraction.” In Russia, Liubov Popova (1889-1924) discovered Cézanne in the Moscow collections of Morosov and Shchukin and drew from him the pleasures of geometric fragmentation, which swiftly moved to pure abstraction.

In the United States, as modernism gathered force, members of the Stieglitz circle, especially Charles Demuth (1883-1935) and Marsden Hartley (1877-1943), became fascinated with Cézanne. Demuth’s still life compositions in particular show a deep connection to Cézanne’s bold late watercolors. In his autobiography, Hartley noted that Cézanne offered “ideas that were to make the world of painting over again and give modernism its next powerful start,” adding that “there is no modern picture that has not somehow or other been built upon these new principles.” Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) studied Cézanne closely, and the exhibition reflects his keen engagement with Cézanne’s style, especially in the mid to late-1920s. Gorky affectionately referred to the French artist as “Papa Cézanne” and even in his later abstractions there is a profound sense of the lesson of Cézanne.

Later, looking back on his career, Max Beckmann said: “my greatest love already in 1903 was Cézanne.” He “revere[d] Cézanne as a genius” throughout his life, looking particularly at the dark, emotional early works and the heavy black outlining of some of Cézanne’s figures. In Italy, Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964) first saw Cézanne images in books in 1909 and then in person in exhibitions in Venice and Rome. His path as an artist of both still lifes and landscapes was set. Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) was introduced to Cézanne by his painter father, but had to wait until the Venice Biennale of 1920 to see his work face-to-face. For him the attraction was the sense of process rather than arrival. Cézanne is firmly linked to an existential sense of doubt and anxiety that permeates Giacometti’s explorations of objects and people in space through two or three dimensions.

In this sense Giacometti is akin to Jasper Johns (b. 1930), for whom Cézanne has been a continuous point of reference and has served over the years as a sort of eminence. The exhibition presents numerous works by Johns that make overt and oblique references to Cézanne, including drawings inspired by Cézanne’s bathers and paintings of figures that are referenced in Johns through such works as the Seasons and In the Studio. Ellsworth Kelly (b. 1923) first discovered Cézanne as a student in Boston and is quick to explain that Cézanne is often at play in his art making. Kelly’s exploration of the relationships between form and color, figure and ground, take on an immediacy and constancy for our understanding of both artists. Brice Marden (b. 1938) commented “that Cézanne almost made the perfect painting.” In Marden’s own works, Cézanne’s pursuit of an essentially unobtainable goal of distillation, often through repetitions on the same motif, is a shared journey.

The exhibition places substantial emphasis on artists of the present day, including long established masters such as Kelly, Johns, Marden, and Jeff Wall (b.1946), and younger artists responding to the idea of the show such as Francis Alÿs and Sherrie Levine. Wall’s magnificent light box photographs show that Cézanne’s influence transcends the medium of painting. While working in an entirely different medium, the photographer Wall is a life long admirer of Cézanne either through direct quotations or more often through implied transgressive references.

“Our purpose is first to display the continuing vitality of Cézanne as an artistic resource five generations on,” added Rishel. “Of equal importance in our endeavor is to illustrate the unfolding reality that a different Cézanne has evolved for each generation, defined by what artists have made of him and passed along to those who came after. It is a continuing story.”

During the preparation for the exhibition, Anne d’Harnoncourt, the Museum’s late Director, said: “Cézanne is a rare artist whose work touched so many artists and contributed to shape a broad spectrum of talents and who, remarkably, continues to find fresh resonance today. Philadelphia, like Aix, has long been a major destination for Cézanne lovers because the Museum and the Barnes Foundation hold such comprehensive collections of his work. This exhibition presents an opportunity to fully appreciate both Cézanne’s art and its impact over time, offering visitors the experience of participating in the extraordinary conversation among artists that has engaged many of the major talents of the last century.”

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Call to Artists - Downtown Toms River Art & Music Festival

Call to Artists
Downtown Toms RiverArt & Music Festival 2009
Huddy Park
Water St & Rt 166 (Main St)Toms River, NJ 08753
This is an outdoor festival celebrating live music and dance,visual arts and fine crafts of our region.

May 16, 2009. Rain date: May 17, 12- 5pm

About the Event:
Downtown Toms River had a very successful music concert series last summer. It seems only natural to expand that with visual arts & fine crafts. We encourage emerging artists as well as those with established reputations to participate in this juried show. There is an abundant amount of talent within our city limits, as well as in the county and throughout the state. The purpose of the exhibit is not only to sell art, but to also to showcase the talent of local artists, and to enlighten and delight the general public. Monetary prizes will be issued the day of the show for Best In Show, 2nd and 3rd place.

To be considered for the jury process, artists are required to submit two images by email. All work submitted must be available for sale and must be original work by the artist (limited edition prints by the artist are also acceptable). There are a finite number of spaces available and only the highest quality work will be selected for participation. Submission of work is not a guarantee of acceptance into the show.


About the Juror:
All submitted work will be juried by Drew Stevens, award-winning art director and graphic designer. For nearly twenty years Drew has worked in the advertising and publishing industries, specializing in the design of high-quality, illustrated reference books. The books he produced have sold millions of copies, and his advertising work regularly appears in shelter magazines such as Architectural Digest, Veranda, and Elle Decor. He is winner of the 2004 50/50 Award given by the American Institute of Graphic Artists for his design of the best-selling Sibley Field Guides to Birds. He currently works as a freelance designer and marketing specialist.

Awards:
Best in Show: $200
2nd place: $100
3rd place: $50

Awards announced at 4pm.

Process to apply:
Entry Fee: $10 Jury Fee (non refundable) - 10x 10 Booth Fee: $75. [With Attendance on May 16th, artist 's will receive a $25 refund for the booth fee]

Email two images of work that will be for sale the day of the show to YaarArt@gmail.com make out TWO checks, one for $10 and one for $75. The $75 checks will NOT be cashed unless you are accepted into the show.

For applicants that are denied - your checks will be destroyed. Make checks out to: Yvonne Yaarand mail check and Entry Form (below) to: 218 Main St, Toms River, NJ 08753 Attn: Yvonne Yaar.

Entry Form
Last Name:
First Name:
Address:City, St, Zip:
Phone number:
Email:

1. Title of work:
Medium:
Price:

2. Title of work:
Medium:
Price:

Remember to include this Information with your two checks [one for $10 and one for $75] and with your email submission.

Artist Information for Day of the Event:
Booth fee: $25 will be refunded upon attendance on the day of the show, for the original $75 fee. The space is approximately 10 x 10. Tents and tables are the artists' responsibility.

Work:Work submitted must be suitably framed, wired or prepared for hanging. Work must be professionally displayed. Submitted work must be for sale and available for the entire day (12- 5pm) unless sold to a customer, of course.

Sales: No commission, the artist's retail price is entirely for the artist- no additional fees.

Location:Huddy Park is a beautiful riverside park. It is located at the corner of Main Street/State Route 166 and Water Street in Toms River, NJ.

Additional park information: Food vendors will be available. Very clean, permanent bathroom facilities on location. Free parking.

Important Deadlines and Dates:
March 1, 2009: Submission deadline for 2 images via email to YaarArt@gmail.com and for receipt of $10 nonrefundable jury fee. (This has been extended from February 17)
Mar 10, 2009: A list of accepted artists will be posted to: http://artstarvedezine.blogspot.com/. Show details, drop off process, etc. will be given at this time. (This has been extended from March 1)
May 16, 2009: Day of show- Unloading begins at 9am. Loading area must be cleared by 11am. Artists must be set up by noon.

Contact:
Yvonne Yaar, Show Coordinator at YaarArt@gmail.com

Artist Opportunities - LBI Foundation of the Arts & Sciences

I. How to Exhibit Artwork at the LBIF

The Main Gallery:The exhibition schedule is prepared one year in advance by the Art Exhibition Committee. Proposals with slides or digital images can be submitted to the Gallery Coordinator at The LBI Foundation of the Arts & Sciences.

Check under "The Gallery" for Call for Entries and download a PDF of each prospectus. Please keep the following guidelines in mind:

  • The LBIF does not accept proposals for one-person shows in the main gallery.

  • Because the galleries serve other purposes during the summer months, June-August exhibitions are generally of two dimensional works.

  • The LBIF takes 33% commission on all sales.

  • All work must be ready to hang or exhibit.

  • The artist is responsible for all shipping.

  • Proposals are reviewed by Committee in June and July.

Juried Exhibitions:
The LBIF produces a National Juried Competition annually, typically in mid-summer with nationally recognized jurors and cash prizes. The competition is advertised in national art magazines, like Art in America. Information about entering the competition, including deadlines, is included in these advertisements or a prospectus can be received upon request after October 15th or from our website www.lbifoundation.org.

Summer’s Juried Craft Gallery:
The LBIF has a summer gallery for the presentation and sale of crafts. Artists can request a prospectus for submission. The LBIF retains a 33% commission on all works sold.

Member Exhibitions: Founded in 1948 by Artist Boris Blai, the LBIF has traditionally shown work by its membership. The Annual Member, Student, Faculty Exhibition is scheduled each August and any member in good standing, can submit work for this exhibition and for sale.

II. The Artist Residency and Retreat Program

Literary writers, illustrators and other visual artists and New Jersey Fellows are invited to apply for the Artist Residency and Retreat Program at the LBIF. Now entering its fourth year, the program allows artists time to prepare for upcoming exhibitions or explore new ideas and methods in their work, while experiencing the quiet island and beach community during the off season. The LBIF provides resident artists with:

  • A working studio space for a time period between October 2008 - April 2009

  • Living accommodations within walking distance of the studios

  • a small stipend for food

  • An opportunity to teach, lecture or present their work to the community

  • A culminating exhibit in our main gallery with a scheduled opening in May 2009

The facility includes 13 studios and classrooms, exhibition spaces including a gallery with more than 2600 linear feet and 15-18 foot ceilings, and 28 acres of wetlands. Facilities available include a painting studio, an interior loft studio, space in our ceramics studio which has 16 wheels, a new Geil gas kiln as well as several electric and raku kilns. The LBIF also has a large sculpture studio on the first floor with concrete floors and a separate building for large scale works or photography.

To apply for the Residency & Retreat Program please send:

  • A resume or curriculum Vitae which includes the applicant’s name address, email and home numbers

  • A narrative describing your interest in this program and how it pertains to the current direction of your work and includes the requested time period requested for a residency

  • Indicate your medium and provide 8-10 slides or original digital images of your work.

Applications for this program are reviewed by a committee that includes artists, patrons, educators and curators. If you have any questions, please contact Chris Seiz, Gallery Manager, at (609) 494-1241 or by email at director@lbifoundation.org.

III.Teaching at the LBIF

The LBIF is always excited to meet new artists and instructors who are interested in teaching at the LBIF. If you would like more information about available opportunities please contact the Public Programs Coordinator in the office at education@lbifoundation.org. Applications and Teaching Proposals are available at the office. Please review the below information that should be submitted:

  • Resume or application

  • Teaching Proposal with details about the type of class you would like to teach, when you are available and other details for instructor and class management

  • Any additional materials such as images of artwork, press releases, etc.

Materials are reviewed by LBIF staff and Programs/Education Committees for each upcoming season of programming. The facility includes 13 studios and classrooms for adult and childrens programs including a painting & drawing studio overlooking the Barnegat Bay and 23 acres of wetlands, an interior loft studio for sculpture, two ceramics studios. Lecturers in art and science as well as musicians for summer evening programs are welcome to submit as well. Come visit us and bring your ideas.

A. LBIF Employment Opportunity - Development Manager

This fulltime position will direct the fundraising and development efforts of the LBIF by working closely with the Executive Director, and Fundrasing / Ad Hoc Campaign Committee.

Minimum BA required in communications, marketing or arts administration. Minimum 2 years expereince in public relations, marketing or development. Some experience in an arts & culture organization preferred. Office experience necessary.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Momix Re-Mix

Momix Re-Mix

Feb 27, 2009
Count Basie Theatre
http://countbasietheatre.org/calendar/show/show.asp?id=43245546
(Red Bank)

A spectacular company of dancer/illusionists, Momix and choreographer, Moses Pendleton are on, "An endless search for another gravity." Using an inventive mix of athletics, dance, theatre, comedy, riveting music, outrageous costumes, inventive props and light, shadow and the human body, they create shows that transport audiences from the everyday to a surreal fantasy world of exceptional beauty. The Chicago Tribune calls Momix "inspired vaudevillians" and "crowd pleasers," giving their programs, "A charge of amusement and excitement absent for many years from modern dance." The NY Times calls Momix, "This zany group," the Toronto Globe and Mail calls Momix "mad and marvelous," and the L.A. Herald Examiner says, "Momix is ideal for turning audiences onto dance."

Monday, February 16, 2009

An American first family: The Still family and the Legacy of Promise

PRESS RELEASE

What: An American first family: The Still family and the Legacy of Promise

When: Sat. February 28, 2009 at 2:00 pm

Where: Toms River Branch

CONTACT: Meagan Toohey/ 732-349-6200, ext. 5111, mtoohey@theoceancountylibrary.org

An American First Family: The Still Family and The Legacy of Promise

TOMS RIVER, NJ –The Stills are an American first family. They have been with us for 350 years and their combination of suffering and accomplishments is almost unparalleled in American history. Join us on Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 2:00 pm for an engaging presentation about the Stills, their lives, contributions and legacy. View drawings portraying the lives of the Still brothers, William, Peter and James Still.

Our guest speaker, Francine Still Hicks is an author, artist and the great great grandniece of William Still, the Father of the Underground Rail Road. Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to hear the story of the Stills told by a member of the family.

A display of Still family genealogy and notable African American New Jerseyans, including Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Larry Doby, will be on display the month of February in the Wheeler Room on the second floor of the Ocean County Library in Toms River.

This program is free and open to the public. Please register by telephoning (732) 349-6200 or by visiting our Web site (www.theoceancountylibrary.org). Click on the following link to go directly to the registration page, http://engagedpatrons.org/EventsExtended.cfm?SiteID=2161&EventID=29794