Galleries

CRIT:

Looking at the Next Generation

Paintings from the Undergraduate Studios at RISD
August 5 - September 10, 2006

Gallery hours, Thursday through Sunday, 1:00 to 5:00PM.
Other times by appointment.

"CRIT is what we do in art school," says Holly Hughes, painter, professor at Rhode Island School of Design and guest curator at Spencertown Academy Arts Center.

"But, CRIT, the show, was born out of the current media fascination with arts schools and the shaping of creative talent.

Hughes and artists Nancy VanDeren have curated a group exhibition of undergraduate painters from Rhode Island School of Design that presents the “big tent” definition of painting today, including its spillover into digital media and installation.

In this show we encounter the next generation of young artists at a moment when “Art School Confidential” is on the big screen, and books like “The Creative Class” speculate about artists’ roles in the growth of cities, towns, and the American landscape – a phenomenon we are witnessing right now in Columbia and Berkshire Counties. According to Hughes, “Young artists with the juice and ideas needed for this new century are being educated and creating all around us. CRIT taps into that energy source.”

CRIT runs the gamut of the possible, showing many directions artists are exploring at the beginning of their careers - a traditional still life with an ominous touch of plastique, juxtaposed with a fictionally inspired glowing desert landscape of a lost civilization; high-style portraits of studio contemporaries in utterly generational outfits; or a mysteriously engaging series of painted newspapers exuding a sense of their own obsolescence. These new, big, gutsy paintings are infected by cyberspace or trapped in bubbling masses of cartoon-colored, animated matter where lifelike computer games played.

Artists include: Michael G. Assiff, Matt Austin, Julia Benjamin, Percy Cannon, Andrew Casner, Amara Clark, Claudia Cortinez, Laura Fox, Manuela Gonzalez, Yves Guyon, Reid Hitt, Brent Johnston, Brigid Mason, Alissa McKendrick, Nate Thayer Moss, David Roesing, Ramon Vega, Sterling Wells, and Eric Wendel.

Michael G. Assiff, "Oscillating Field" 2006
Oil on canvas, 64" X 58"

special events

Saturday, August 5
GALLERY: CRIT: LOOKING AT THE NEXT GENERATION
4:00–6:00PM - Opening reception with the artists, curators and specials guests from RISD.

Gallery goers can participate in a series of three “crits,” or conversations where art professionals share the interpretive act, inviting the public into conversation on how painting continues its relevance today.

Sunday, August 6
GALLERY TALK: CRIT #1
12:00PM - Free
Artist and RISD alum Judy Glantzman in conversation with curator Holly Hughes, artist and professor at RISD.
Read more about Judy Glantzman's most recent exhibition in New York. Read more about Holly Hughes.

Sunday, August 13
GALLERY TALK: CRIT #2
2:00PM – Free
Sheila Pepe, artist and assistant chair of fine arts, Pratt Institute, in conversation with artist Carrie Moyer.
Read more about Sheila Pepe. Read more about Carrie Moyer.

Sunday, August 20
GALLERY TALK: CRIT #3
12:00PM - Free
Join a conversation with art dealer Donald McKinney and artist Kenneth Polinskie exploring work on view in the gallery.

McKinney and Polinskie are partners in Kendon Gallery in Hudson, NY.

Read about previous gallery shows at Spencertown Academy Arts Center.
[Dustin/Reynolds] [Representing the Self] [Silver & Glass] [Reframing Nature]

Information for artists interested in exhibiting.

Read about previous gallery shows at Spencertown Academy Arts Center. [Dustin/Reynolds] [Representing the Self] [Silver & Glass] [Reframing Nature]

Read about previous gallery shows at Spencertown Academy Arts Center.
[Dustin/Reynolds] [Representing the Self] [Silver & Glass] [Reframing Nature]