Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art Now On Display at National Academy Museum

The 185th Annual: An Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art will feature 65 emerging and established artists selected by a jury of National Academicians. This biennial invitational is an inter-generational exhibition of non-Academicians that offers an opportunity for the public to preview new artistic directions in contemporary American art. Seen from the perspective of distinguished American artists, this national exhibition includes artists working in the New York area and the Eastern region as well as the Midwest, West Coast, and as far away as Hawaii.

The show runs from February 17 through June 8, 2010. It spans the gamut from realism to abstraction, and includes a mix of painting, sculpture, mixed media and installation art. Selections represent diverse ideas, mediums and techniques from an historic number of over 400 artists that submitted work for consideration. "The exhibition includes an array of artists and art-making strategies from emerging and veteran abstractionists to representational artists addressing issues of identity and sexuality," notes Marshall Price, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Academy Museum.

The baroque sculpture of PETAH COYNE uses found objects and materials that create an encrusted surface that is a lush and opulent comment on beauty and decay.

Subtle effects are achieved in the provocative work of Egyptian-born artist GHADA AMER who uses embroidery as her medium creating an abstract field of muted color and texture that veils the erotic imagery underneath. She comments on the oppression of women in the world as well as a woman's sexuality.

In opposition, the colorful paintings of DANA SCHUTZ and CHRIS MARTIN make the space come alive. Schutz uses a new strategy of atomizing the field of color with pointillist dots. Then she reassembles the figures within the field with a line that marks the forM. Martin adds glitter to his bold colors and forms that create large quirky abstractions.

A large color transparency mounted in a light box shows Brazilian artist CILDO MEIRELES standing on his head atop a plinth with the words socle du monde (base of the world) which is a play on Piero Manzoni's piece from the 1960s that announced that the whole world is art and that artists therefore are obsolete. Here Meireles seems to put the artist back in picture, even if on his head.

Many more of the finest American artists working today are also represented in the show, including Alison ElizaBeth Taylor, Nina Yankowitz, Anna Lambrini Moisiadis, John Bradford, Sam Hernandez, Valerie Jaudon and Sarah Walker.

Public programs including gallery talks, panels and docent tours will be announced as the show commences.

The 185th Annual is generously funded by the Dedalus Foundation, Inc, the F. Donald Kenney Fund, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and The New York State Council on the Arts.

Cost

Adults:
$10.00
Student / Senior:
$ 5.00
NY Times / Channel 13:
$ 5.00
Friends of the Academy: Free
N.A. Members:
Free
N.A. Students:
Free
Children under 12:
Free

National Academy Museum
(212) 369-4880
1083 5th Avenue,
New York, NY

For more information, visit https://nationalacademy.org/index.asp