October 23, 2021 – January 2, 2022

Throughout the 20^th and 21^st centuries, cars and motorcycles have not only been ubiquitous on the nation’s streets and highways, but also in film, top forty hits, and in painting. With the emergence of photorealism in the 1960’s motor vehicles assumed a special place of distinction as subject matter in the iconography of American art.

LUSTER: Realism and Hyperrealism in Contemporary Automobile and Motorcycle Painting is a traveling exhibition comprised of over 55 paintings by nearly 15 leading photorealists and hyperrealists who specialize in automobiles and motorcycles as their primary subject of choice. Their work exemplifies the very best of automotive painting being done today and builds on that of the first wave of photorealists in the ‘60s and ‘70s, which included the likes of Harold Cleworth, Don Eddy, Richard Estes, and Ralph Goings.

Featuring dazzling paintings that encompass a broad range of vintage vehicles, recent classics, off-road vehicles, exotics, and more, LUSTER is a celebration of mechanical and artist design and style, the combination of which will have great allure with audiences. Like the shiny automobiles and motorcycles portrayed by the artists, its paintings can be characterized by the luster that permeates their imagery.

For more information visit the LUSTER website.

Exhibition Support
LUSTER: Realism and Hyperrealism in Contemporary Automobile and Motorcycle Painting, Produced by David J. Wagner, L.L.C., David J. Wagner, Ph.D., Curator/Tour Director. This exhibition is generously supported by The Gates Automotive Group; John Oliva and Nancy Krant; Hamilton Point Investments; the Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts; and an anonymous foundation.

June 12 – October 24, 2021

Having lived for decades at the edge of a forest, the boundaries between the studio and the land have dissolved for artist Ana Flores. “My intellectual and aesthetic bedrock which was once narrowly focused on art history has shifted, earth stories have become the compelling force for my creative work.” Forest Dreaming is a selection from works that inspired this shift of consciousness and made Flores an ecological artist. During her career, along with gallery and museum exhibitions, she has worked with environmental groups all over the country and designed parks.

The show will include her recent outdoor sculptures, “Forest Dialogue.” These bronze chairs turning back into trees, invite the public to sit and meditate on our connection to the natural world. A series of outdoor events are scheduled using the chairs as an invitation to dialogue and ponder the connection between art and the environment. Stay tuned for more information on when these events will take place.

Ana Flores is an award-winning sculptor, ecologist, writer and curator based in Rhode Island and Nova Scotia. She is interested in how place and geography informs who we are. Her sculptures, park designs, and environmental designs begin with long walks and explorations into each unique landscape.

                                           
Left: Ana Flores, Heart of the Forest, 2017, wood and pigment with carved lines; Right: Ana Flores, Forest Memoir, 2015, drawing. Private collection.

Virtual Exhibit Opening
Held on June 11, 2021

Virtual Lecture
Held on September 19, 2021

May 29 – August 22, 2021

The traveling exhibition Memories & Inspiration: The Kerry and C. Betty Davis Collection of African American Art presents 62 selected works from a body of art amassed over 35 years by an ordinary working-class couple. Often choosing artworks over material items and other creature comforts, Kerry, a retired mailman, and Betty, a former television news producer, have opted instead to live with drawings, paintings, prints, and sculpture as their principal luxuries.

Their collection includes works by Radcliffe Bailey, Romare Bearden, Beverly Buchanan, Elizabeth Catlett, Ernest T. Crichlow, Sam Gilliam, Loïs Mailou Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Gordon Parks, Alma Thomas, and Charles White. While their stated intention to “preserve cultural memories and provide their community with a source of inspiration” are goals shared by most art enthusiasts, Kerry and Betty do not search exclusively for well-known and/or documented artists, keeping in mind “the importance of gathering and preserving a spectrum of approaches to the black image in order to console the psyche and contribute to a more authentic articulation of the self.” To this end, the Davises continue to be students of the visual arts through visits to galleries and museums and through their voracious reading of exhibition catalogues, artist monographs, books, and online data about artists, art genres, mediums, and history. [Read more…]