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Transformative Portraits: Altered Identities in Contemporary Art will be on exhibit in the Richard A. and Rissa W. Grossman Gallery Nov. 4- Dec. 23 in the Williams Visual Arts Building. Gallery hours are 10 a.m- 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.
Exhibition curator Donna Gustafson, part-time lecturer of art history at Rutgers University and freelance art historian, will offer remarks 4:15 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9 in the Grossman Gallery. A reception in the gallery will follow the lecture at 5 p.m.
The exhibition includes work by Willie Cole, Kelli Connell, Julie Heffernan, Curt Ikens, Nikki S. Lee, and Mark Newport, six artists from around the country who transform themselves in order to play with ideas about identity governed by social definitions of race, gender, and culture.
“I look at a lot of contemporary art and it occurred to me that there is a whole group of people who take the notion of identity and transform it into something else entirely,” Gustafson says. “I wanted to put a show together to explore that and decided on these six artists from all different geographical locations.”
While there have been many other artists in the past who have taken on alternate identities, Gustafson believes the artists she chose represent a balanced body of work. The artists in this exhibition prefer to move the conversation into the public arena and question social constructions of identity rather than individual identity.
Jim Toia, director of the Grossman Gallery and Community Based Teaching Program at the Williams Visual Arts Building, believes the exhibition applies to all academic departments.
“One of the things we try to do is bring exhibitions to all disciplines. This self-portrait exhibition applies to so many different areas of study – American studies, psychology, sociology – because of the complexity of the work and the issue of identity,” he says. “Anyone can come down and find themselves in the work, and our main purpose is to educate the entire campus, giving professors the opportunity to apply this work to their disciplines.”
Toia also has invited high school classes from Easton and Phillipsburg to view and study the collection.
He also stresses the importance of Gustafson’s work in curating the show.
“Donna’s knowledge of the field and writing ability make this a great experience, and she brought in a number of artists that I was previously unfamiliar with,” he says. “Both Mark Newport and Kelli Connell are artists we don’t see that often on the east coast.”
Toia has opened the gallery up to student assistants who aid in and learn about the process of curating a show.
Sarah Reddan ’09 (Monroe Township, N.J.), a double major in history and art, is doing an independent study project by helping Toia and Gustafson with the production aspects of the exhibition.
“I pursued this independent study because I want to eventually get an internship at a museum,” she says. “I’m learning to curate and how to make an exhibition cohesive. I’m also learning about the everyday aspects of an event like this, like how to handle and package the art itself.”
Toia wishes to enable more students to have the same opportunity. This spring, he will introduce a new course called Independent Study in Gallery Management and Curatorial Studies to a limited group of students who will interact with him in the Grossman Gallery to acquire essential skills.
The course will teach students the ins and outs of curating exhibitions, installing and handling art, and designing announcement cards and managing publicity. The class will culminate with students curating an exhibition on campus.
For more information, contact the Grossman Gallery at (610) 330-5831.