Center for the Arts

UB Art Galleries has a fabulous new website

UB Art Galleries has just launched a new website: www.ubartgalleries.org.  This new site is a wonderful upgrade including images of exhibited works, and really lovely informative enlargements when you click on the images.

Click to check it out: 

Final weeks to see current exhibitions at UB Anderson Gallery

Looking for a no-cost cultural experience for your family or date?  UB Anderson Gallery, located just off of Englewood Avenue in North Buffalo is open Wednesday through Saturday 11am-5pm and Sunday 1-5pm.
The current exhibitions are on view through Sunday, January 18. 

Ode to Michael Goldberg: Selective Thievery and the Practice of Looking is an exhibition of paintings, including collaborations between Goldberg and the prominent New York School poets Frank O’Hara and Bill Berkson, as well as paintings in UB’s Collection by Joan Mitchell, Grace Hartigan, and Norman Bluhm, members of the New York School with whom Goldberg was closely associated.

Michael Goldberg's work was influenced by the artists of the earlier Abstract Expressionist movement and like many of the New York School pulled inspiration from jazz music.  Goldberg enjoyed a successful career as an abstract painter right until his death in his studio last year. 

Raymond@80 - Raymond Federman is a French–American novelist and professor at the University at Buffalo, where he is now Distinguished Emeritus Professor.  Federman writes novels, poetry, essays and criticism exemplary of a deconstructive, experimental style.

Works are by Harvey Breverman, Bruce Jackson and Terri Katz-Kasimov in a group exhibition, organized in collaboration with Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, featuring paintings, drawings, collages, prints and photographs inspired by the life and works of Raymond Federman.

Noncommittal: A Prospective Glance presented by UB Art Gallery

UB ART GALLERY, Center for the Arts presents:

Noncommittal: A Prospective Glance

(Selections from Department of Visual Studies' Senior Thesis 2008)

November 13, 2008 through February 7, 2009

Buffalo, N.Y.—The UB Art Gallery is proud to present Noncommittal: A Prospective Glance, a group exhibition featuring three recent graduates from the Department of Visual Studies at the University at Buffalo: Chris Bettencourt, Christine Goerss and Colin Griffin. This exhibition, an inaugural collaboration between the UB Art Gallery and the Department of Visual Studies, opens with a public reception in the Second Floor Gallery on Thursday, November 13, 2008 from 5 to 7pm. Formal remarks by Bruce D. McCombe, Dean of UB College of Arts and Sciences at 5:30 pm. The artists will be in attendance.

UB Art Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 11 AM to 5 PM with extended hours on Thursday until 7 PM. For information, please call 716-645-6912. The installation, which is free and open to the public, will be on view in the Second Floor Gallery through February 7, 2009.

Baby Books: Chris Bettencourt received her BFA from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2008 with a concentration in Emerging Practices. Her work utilizes a variety of media, and through the frequent use of satire concentrates on personal aspects of wider social issues. As Bettencourt anticipates the birth of her first child, she finds herself overcome with fears. Some of them are rational, some of them are not. For Baby Books, she categorized her fears, keeping only the ones she felt were widely experienced by expectant parents such as abnormalities that are undetectable by prenatal scans and the hazards of a un-baby-proofed house.

Neoplasticisms: Christine Goerss was born and raised in Buffalo, New York where she completed double degrees at the State University of New York at Buffalo in May 2008, receiving a BFA in Visual Studies and a BA in Art History. Goerss's interest in art history is visible in her artwork as she clashes concepts from the past with new materials and meaning. Neoplasticisms refers back to the art movement of the same name while looking ahead to suggest that there is a new plasticity that underlies the structure of our material world. The different types of assemblages Goerss arranges examine the way color and shape as previous essential forms have been trumped by byproducts of consumption. Central to her work is the collection and manipulation of material waste as it represents consequences of the existence that we have built up around us. The artist uses littered boxes, bags, and junk mail to reflect the imaginary concepts of branding, corporate identity, and credit, while her unsecured modular sculptures serve as a reminder that what is built up must eventually come down.

A real if fleeting instance of rapport: Colin Griffin bought his first camera the day after he first set foot in a darkroom, so beguiled was he. It was all so perfect, and so obviously suited to his quiet demeanor and romantic inclinations, that he never looked back. After a while he began experimenting with combining this newfound love with his other passions: storytelling, singing, and playing instruments. He found that he could create moving pictures to tell his stories, and use his own songs to set the mood. This ability to shape an entire world, no matter how brief and idealized it may be, is a powerful one. Griffith is beginning to realize this, is wary of it, but embraces it doggedly. For A real if fleeting instance of rapport, Griffin purchased a Super-8 movie camera. He goes on: “Two, actually. Why not?? I bought the necessary stock and a dozen batteries. I found a lab in Kansas that still processes the type of film I chose. I’ve also written a journal entry that is fictional, though parts of it bear a not insubstantial likeness to journal entries that are nonfictional. I began recording myself playing borrowed instruments with a borrowed microphone, and drew many little drawings that look perhaps like the second of a ten step “how to draw” lesson. I’ve talked to a number of people about this project, without ever really telling them very much about it at all. Each time I do, however, I learn a little bit more about why I do what I do. I’m just not going to tell you….”

The UB Art Gallery is located in the Center for the Arts on the North Campus just north of the I290 on Millersport Highway. Traveling east or west on the I-290 takeexit 5B to Millersport Highway North. Turn onto the campus at the Coventry entrance. As you enter the campus, the Center for the Arts is a high gabled white building directly ahead of you.

After 3 PM and on weekends, parking is free and a permit is not required. During all other times, guests must park in metered spaces, visitor parking lots, or obtain a parking permit from UB Art Gallery staff. In order to obtain a parking permit, temporarily park in the circle in front of the Center for the Arts and see a gallery attendant inside.

Organized by the UB Art Galleries with generous support form the Department of Visual Studies. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue featuring essays by Jennifer Griffith, Anna Kuehl and Megan Leight, graduate students in the Department of Visual Studies with art history concentrations.

The UB Art Gallery is funded by the UB College of Arts Sciences, the Visual Arts Building Fund, the Seymour H. Knox Foundation Fine Arts Fund, and the Fine Arts Center Endowment.

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Opening tonight: Lyle Ashton Harris at UB Art Gallery

Tonight, 5pm - UB Art Gallery, Center for the Arts

The UB Art Gallery, Center for the Arts is pleased to present Lyle Ashton Harris's first major survey exhibition, spanning ca. 20 prolific years from his career and will provide a new approach to framing Harris's diverse body of work. The exhibition will open with a public reception on Thursday, September 4 at 5 PM with music by DJ Nico with Tone Doctor's Mobile DJ Services. Harris will give a lecture as part of the Visual Studies Speakers Series on Monday, September 15 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm in 112 Center for the Arts (Screening Room).

Lyle Ashton Harris Blow Up will debut new images inspired by his recent experiences in West Africa. A key figure since the 1990s, Harris first gained critical notice for his theatrical black-and-white self-portraits, in which he examined racial and gender identity, using the body as socio-psychological metaphor. As Anna Deavere Smith wrote (2002), "Lyle's work questions the meaning of maleness and femaleness, not to mention of blackness and whiteness….Is it possible that, now, we can look at identity as a constellation: that each of us has inside of ourselves many fragments?" Harris has since moved from the self-as-subject to a broader interest in the anthropology of images-and the impact of globalization. A photojournalist (e.g. for New York Times Magazine) as well as a fine-art photographer, Harris is keenly aware of the power of images and the gravity at stake in their production.

Ode to Michael Goldberg at UB Anderson Gallery

UB Anderson Gallery will present Ode to Michael Goldberg: Selective Thievery and the Practice of Looking from September 13, 2008 – January 18, 2009.

Buffalo, NY – The University at Buffalo Anderson Gallery is pleased to present the memorial exhibition, Ode to Michael Goldberg: Selective Thievery and the Practice of Looking. This exhibition, which is free and open to the public, will be on view through January 18, 2009. There will be a public reception on Saturday, September 13, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Michael Goldberg (1924-2007) is known for his large-scale abstract paintings which reflect the early influence of Abstract Expressionism on his sixty year long career. In addition to a group of important paintings from the University’s collection, loans of artwork from several private collection and public institutions, many shown publicly for the first time in years, provides a unique opportunity to observe the development and evolution of the artist’s life and work through drawings, paintings and prints dating from the 1940s to the 1980s.

Ode to Michael Goldberg traces the evolution of Goldberg’s work beginning with the early cubist inspired drawings of the ‘40s, the monumental nonobjective paintings of the early ‘60s, the abstracted landscape and still-lifes from the mid- to late ‘60s, monochromatic paintings of the ‘70s and ending with his use of grids in the ‘80s. The grid was the structure that informed Goldberg’s most recent work, which was exhibited at Knoedler & Company, New York, shortly before his death in December of 2007.

Throughout Goldberg’s intensely productive career, he was influenced by a wide range of art and artists, including his contemporaries in the field of visual arts. He also took inspiration from genres of art as diverse as Renaissance painting, jazz music and architecture. Goldberg utilized these sources to continually push abstraction into new and exciting directions. Through the ‘50s and ‘60s, Goldberg helped form part of what came to be known as the New York School—a dynamic group of highly influential artists and writers who were living and working in New York City. This exhibition includes collaborations between Goldberg and the prominent New York School poets Frank O’Hara and Bill Berkson, as well as paintings in UB’s Collection by Joan Mitchell, Grace Hartigan, and Norman Bluhm, members of the New York School with whom Goldberg was closely associated.

Ode to Michael Goldberg will be accompanied by a catalogue with essays by Amber Smith and Goldberg’s close friend and well-known writer and curator Klaus Kertess, which provide insights into the artist’s career, as well as a fresh analysis of the artist’s symbiotic relationship with his dealer, Martha Jackson, formerly of Buffalo and founder of the prestigious Martha Jackson Gallery in New York City, which was renowned for its representation of young American artists struggling for attention in the rapidly developing Post-World War II art market.

The catalogue publication was made possible by a generous donation from David K. Anderson. UB Anderson Gallery is supported with funds from the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Anderson Gallery Program Fund, and UB Collection Care and Management Endowment Fund. UB Anderson Gallery, located at One Martha Jackson Place near Englewood and Kenmore, is open Wednesday through Saturday 11am-5pm and Sunday 1-5pm. For more information, please call (716) 829-3754. ###

TypeCon2008 and NLXL exhibition this week

This weekend The Buffalo News featured a story on this week's TypeCon2008, the design and typographic convention hosted by the Society of Typographic Aficionados.

The conference starts today with workshops at the Hyatt Regency, and the opening reception will be held Thursday night here at the Center for the Arts in conjunction with an opening reception for the exhibit by NLXL, the Dutch design studio.  The event starts at 5:30pm and goes to midnight.

The exhibition is currently on view, though the reception is the official opening.  According to NLXL's website, "the studio developed a new interactive presentation tool that will be introduced to the audience for the first time."

Bob van Dijk, Joost Roozekrans and Oscar Smeulders, founders of NLXL, will be delivering the keynote address on Thursday night at 8 pm.

In addition to the keynote lecture, an exhibition of their work is on display, as well as a post-lecture party and DJ/VJ performance by NLXL. Arrive early to see the exhibition, stay late to party!  Round-trip buses will be available from the Hyatt to UB for TypeCon2008 full-conference registrants. This event is free and open to the public, and there is plenty of room for everyone! 

Check out www.typecon.com for all the details of the conference.

UB Anderson Gallery Closed for Summer Renovations

Due to building renovations, the UB Anderson Gallery will be open by appointment only from now until early September 2008. Summer office hours are Monday through Friday 9am to 5pm; closed weekends and July 4^th.

Although no exhibitions will be on view during this time, several Arts Education Sessions will be offered throughout the summer with information forthcoming. For information regarding the Arts Education Sessions, feel free to contact Ginny Lohr, Curator of Education at 716-829-3754 ext. 102.UB Anderson Gallery is located on Martha Jackson Place near Englewood and Kenmore. For directions and more information call 716-829-3754 or visit www.ubartgalleries.buffalo.edu.

Art Gallery opens two exhibits

action at a distance (detail), 2008

DOUGLAS REPETTO: action at a distance everything, all at once

February 28 through May 17

Repetto’s two installations for the UB Art Gallery revel in madcap interactivity and quirky DIY technologies. Opening Reception Thursday, February 28, 2008 5 to 7 pm

Artist talk begins at 5 pm

Introversions, computer rendering by Nick Bruscia, 2007

SHADI NAZARIAN: Introversions
February 28 through May 17

Nazarian’s Lightwell Project, Introversions, frames and choreographs an architectural experience as audiences are drawn toward a responsive minimalist structure, seemingly hovering in midair. Working in the fertile intersections of art, architecture, and emergent technology, she isolates and enhances disorienting moments inherent to urban conditions, which are triggered by reflections and other intriguing sights seen out of the corner of the eye.

Opening Reception  Thursday, February 28, 2008 5 to 7 pm
Artist talk begins at 5:30

UB Art Gallery, Center for the Arts
College of Arts and Sciences
201 A Center For The Arts
Buffalo, NY 14260-6000
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 11am-5pm; extended hours Thursday 11am - 7pm
Free Admission
For more information call: 716-645-6912 x1425
www.ubartgalleries.buffalo.edu

The production of Introversions is sponsored in part, by a generous grant from the New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artists Program (Film, Media and New Technology Production Category) and the New York Foundation for the Arts Special Opportunity Stipends, as well as the support of CBO Glass, KNEMA LLC, Polytronix Inc. and SMG HARSON. Fabrication by factoryny. Introversions is dedicated to the memory of Magda Cordell McHale.

UB Art Gallery is funded by the College of Arts and Sciences, the Visual Arts Building Fund, the Seymour H. Knox Foundation Fine Arts Fund, and the Fine Arts Center Endowment.

Lightwell Project by Shadi Nazarian to Open at UB Art Gallery, Center for the Arts

The UB Art Gallery, Center for the Arts is pleased to present a Lightwell Project by by architect and UB professor Shadi Nazarian, Introversions, with a public reception on Thursday, February 28 from 5 to 7 PM. An exhibition walkthrough with the artist will begin at 5:30 PM.

UB Art Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 11 AM to 5 PM with extended hours on Thursday until 7 PM. For information, please call 716-645-6912. The installation, which is free and open to the public, will be on view through May 17, 2008.

Nazarian frames and choreographs an architectural experience as audiences are drawn toward a responsive minimalist structure, seemingly hovering in midair.  Working in the fertile intersections of art, architecture, and emergent technology, she employs switchable Liquid crystal layered privacy glass to explore cognition and think about the ways in which we navigate the environment we live in. In the commercial sector, privacy glass has been used primarily for partitions, display cases, bank screens, and as enclosures for conference rooms, and provocatively, in dressing rooms and bathrooms. Presented in an academic and artistic context, Introversions seeks to discover how new materials such as privacy glass fundamentally alter spatial relationships and human perception. Nazarian isolates and enhances disorienting moments inherent to urban conditions that are triggered by reflections and other strange sights seen out of the corner of the eye by combining minimalist sculpture and architecture to generate uncanny optical effects.

Nazarian moved to New York City in 1989 to join I.M. Pei & Partners as an architectural designer, and then to Ithaca, NY to teach at Cornell University (1991-92, and 1999-2002). She has been teaching at the State University of New York at Buffalo in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning since 1994.

Introversions is sponsored in part, by grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and New York Foundation of the Arts special opportunity stipends, as well as the support of KNEMA, LLC, Polytronix, Inc. and SMG HARSON.

The UB Art Gallery is funded by the UB College of Arts Sciences, the Visual Arts Building Fund, the Seymour H. Knox Foundation Fine Arts Fund, and the Fine Arts Center Endowment.

The UB Art Gallery is located in the Center for the Arts on the North Campus just north of the I290 on Millersport Highway. Traveling east or west on the I-290 take exit 5B to Millersport Highway North. Turn onto the campus at the Coventry entrance. As you enter the campus, the Center for the Arts is a high gabled white building directly ahead of you.

After 3 PM and on weekends, parking is free and a permit is not required. During all other times, guests must park in metered spaces, visitor parking lots, or obtain a parking permit from UB Art Gallery staff. In order to obtain a parking permit, temporarily park in the circle in front of the Center for the Arts and see a gallery attendant inside.

More info: ubartgalleries.buffalo.edu

Two Immersive Installations by Douglas Repetto to Fill the First Floor Gallery at the UB Art Gallery, Center for the Arts

The UB Art Gallery, Center for the Arts is pleased to present two large-scale installations by New York City-based artist Douglas Repetto to open with a public reception on February 28 at 5 PM. An exhibition walkthrough with the artist will begin at 5 PM.

UB Art Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 11 AM to 5 PM with extended hours on Thursday until 7 PM. For information, please call 716-645-6912. The installation, which is free and open to the public, will be on view through May 17, 2008.

Douglas Repetto’s two installations in the first floor gallery revel in madcap interactivity and DIY technologies. action at a distance is a bewitching tangle of motors and pulleys, zigzags of rope, an otter theater, jangling bells, fireflies, switches, breath activators, and rough steel. Small gestures made by visitors are amplified and transmitted via motors and rope, repurposed as the drivers of small dramas tucked into corners and nooks. everything, all at once is a sudden condensation of sound and reflections: a dense net of hundreds of bells, mirrors, motors, lights, and vibrations envelop the viewer. These immersive performance and listening experiences attest to how the visual arts are being revolutionized by new technologies such as sensors and interactive performance systems.

Repetto is an artist and teacher whose varied interests exemplify the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary art production today. His work, which includes sculpture, installation, performance, recordings, and software, is presented internationally. He is the founder of a number of art/community-oriented groups including dorkbot: people doing strange things with electricity, ArtBots: The Robot Talent Show, organism: making art with living systems, and the music-dsp mailing list and website. Repetto is Director of Research at the Columbia University Computer Music Center and lives in New York City.

      

The UB Art Gallery is located in the Center for the Arts on the North Campus just north of the I290 on Millersport Highway. Traveling east or west on the I-290 take exit 5B to Millersport Highway North. Turn onto the campus at the Coventry entrance. As you enter the campus, the Center for the Arts is a high gabled white building directly ahead of you.

         

After 3 PM and on weekends, parking is free and a permit is not required. During all other times, guests must park in metered spaces, visitor parking lots, or obtain a parking permit from UB Art Gallery staff. In order to obtain a parking permit, temporarily park in the circle in front of the Center for the Arts and see a gallery attendant inside.

The UB Art Gallery is funded by the UB College of Arts Sciences, the Visual Arts Building Fund, the Seymour H. Knox Foundation Fine Arts Fund, and the Fine Arts Center Endowment.