WALL ROCKETS:
Contemporary Artists and Ed Ruscha
Ongoing – October 25, 2009
This exhibition of approximately one hundred
works by more than seventy-five artists pays tribute to Ed Ruscha, one of
America’s most influential contemporary artists. It was organized by Lisa
Dennison, Chairman of Sotheby’s North and South America, for the FLAG Art
Foundation in New York City. The installation in Buffalo is organized by
Albright-Knox Art Gallery Curator Heather Pesanti, who has augmented it with a
selection of works from the Gallery’s collection by Ruscha and other artists.
Fletcher Benton:
The Alphabet
Ongoing – July 5, 2010
Renowned American sculptor Fletcher Benton is
best known for cutting, folding, and realigning two-dimensional sheets of steel
into three-dimensional objects that seem to defy gravity. This exhibition, organized by
Albright-Knox Art Gallery Associate Curator Holly E. Hughes, focuses on Benton’s
“Alphabet” series, which he began in the 1970s. The seventy works on loan from the collection of James J.
Curtis, including paper maquettes and corresponding sculptures, provides an
in-depth examination of the artist’s creative process. Scheduled to be on view for a year, this
exhibition will also be the focus of a comprehensive educational program for
elementary, middle, and high school students.
Ingrid Calame:
Step on a Crack . . .
September 25, 2009 – February 28, 2010
Ingrid Calame is best known for her artworks
based on tracings of stains and marks found on city streets and sidewalks that
she transposes onto museum walls (see top image).
This, the Albright-Knox’s first Artist-In-Residence Program exhibition,
features new drawings and paintings created over the past year from tracings executed
during Calame’s three-week residency in Buffalo in June 2008, when she and her team of
tracers worked in the shipping area of a Lackawanna steel production factory,
abandoned grain elevators along the Buffalo River, a wading pool in South
Buffalo, and the Albright-Knox’s parking lot.
In Good Company: Figurative Drawings from the Collection
October 2, 2009 – January 3, 2010
This exhibition features more than fifty
seldom-seen works by forty-seven artists from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s
extraordinary Permanent Collection.
The exhibition, almost exclusively comprising drawings, explores the
depiction of the figure through more than a century with works dating from the
late 1800s through the 1980s.
Curatorial Assistant Ilana Chlebowski, who organized the exhibition,
comments that it examines “how artists explore human behavior and companionship–these
works, bare and pure, help us see ourselves and our interactions with others in
new and traditional ways, focusing on ‘when we like company and when we don’t.'”
In Good Company features often
striking images of lone and grouped figures. Organized visually within a historical context, it will
allow the visitor to make connections between artists, time periods, and
artistic movements. The works, mostly
monochromatic, are renderings of the human form that can evoke a mood or
emotion.
ROBERT MANGOLD
Beyond the Line | Paintings and Project 2000-2008
October 23, 2009 – January 31, 2010
This exhibition honors
the outstanding career of Robert Mangold, an artist whose native roots are in
Buffalo and who has been a major figure in the investigation of geometric
abstraction since the 1960s. Born in North Tonawanda, New York, in 1937,
Mangold’s earliest visits to an art museum were to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.
This nearly ten-year survey explores the development of the artist’s paintings
and works on paper with his “Curled Figures,” “Columns,” “Column Structures,”
and most recently his “Ring Images” series. Mangold’s monumental commission for
the colored glass windows in Buffalo’s new United States Courthouse, scheduled
to open in July 2010, will also be featured in the exhibition through
architectural models, preliminary sketches, and photographs that document the
building and the site. Designed by architect William Pederson, the courthouse
will connect Buffalo’s illustrious architectural past with its future.
Topographies
November 13, 2009 – February 28, 2010
Topography, the
practice of creating detailed maps or charts that define the terrestrial characteristics
of a singular locality, was originally conceived by ancient cultures as simply “the
study of place.” Customarily, topographical mapping and the study of topography
result in large-scale, detailed, and carefully calibrated representations of
nature’s nuances in relief. Topographies is an exhibition that draws its
inspiration from the definitive aspects of topographical mapping by shedding
light on artists who employ a visual language that oftentimes blurs the
boundaries between the natural and man-made, while paying specific attention to
detail, surface, and depth of imagery. Culled from the Albright-Knox Art
Gallery’s Permanent Collection, the exhibition will feature works by Polly
Apfelbaum, Jane Callister, Tara Donovan, Teresita Fernandez, Mark Fox, Ellen
Gallagher, Udomsak Krisanamis, Heather McGill, Jorge Pardo, Emilio Perez, Ara
Peterson, Ken Price, Tam Van Tran, Clare Woods, and Carrie Yamaoka.
NEW PROGRAM FOR YOUTH: Family Funday at the Gallery
Sunday Afternoons
with Modern and Contemporary Art
Revisit masterworks of
our Permanent Collection with this new Sunday afternoon series. The first
Sunday of every month, join us for a different activity and experience art in a
whole new way!
Members: Free
Non-members: Free with
Gallery admission
Sunday, October 4,
2009
Adventures with
Animals
Explore the different
ways artists sculpt, paint, and draw animals by looking at such works as Milton
Avery’s Bucolic Landscape, Edward Hicks’s Peaceable Kingdom, and Giacomo Balla’s Dynamism
of a Dog on a Leash, then create your own masterpiece of your favorite animals!
(All ages)
Sunday, November 1,
2009
The Seasons of the
Year
Throughout the ages,
artists have chosen to paint scenes illustrating the four seasons of the year.
By examining Frederick Childe Hassam’s Church at Old Lyme, Connecticut; Daniel Ridgway
Knight’s Springtime; Paul Gauguin’s The Yellow Christ; and Claude Monet’s Tow-Path
at Argenteuil, you will see how different artists evoke the seasons, and then
create artwork inspired by your favorite season of the year. (All ages)
Sunday, December 6,
2009
Looking at Art with
Your Kids
Contemporary art can
be audacious. Oftentimes adults are uncomfortable with or uncertain about
viewing and discussing controversial works of art with children. This special
Sunday for art lovers of all ages, facilitated by Curator of Education Mariann
Smith and Program Coordinator Anna Jablonski, will address ways to approach and
experience different works of art. (All ages)
PROGRAMS FOR ADULTS:
Art and Yoga for
Fun and Relaxation
9 – 10:15 am
$10 per session or
$55 for all sessions for Members
$15 per session or
$90 for all sessions for non-Members
Experience art, yoga,
and the many connections between the two in an hour of yoga and meditative
practice for six weekly sessions.
PROGRAMS FOR EDUCATORS:
The ABZs of
Sculpture
Fletcher Benton used a
single square of paper to design a sculpture of each letter of the alphabet,
which will be on view at the Gallery through July 2010. This workshop will
explore connections between the alphabet, writing, and art with a
multidisciplinary approach. Through hands-on activities, art teachers and
English Language teachers alike will find ways to make connections between
language and the visual image.
of Education
Pre-registration is
required. Please call 716.270.8336 or send a message to jbochynski@albrightknox.org.
Step on a Crack . .
. in Buffalo, New York
Saturday, December 5,
2009
10 am-1 pm
Allow artist Ingrid
Calame to teach your students about Buffalo’s past, present, and future. In
this workshop, educators will learn about the Gallery’s first
Artist-in-Residence program, see the resulting exhibition, Step on a Crack .
. ., discover Calame’s
unique working process and explore lesson plans about her process that can
connect to Buffalo’s historical past, current events, and our hopes for the
future.
non-members
of Education
Pre-registration is
required. Please call 716.270.8336 or send a message to jbochynski@albrightknox.org.
GUSTO AT THE GALLERY – Free Fridays from 3 to 10 pm – Program
Highlights
Art:21 – Art in the
Twenty-First Century, Season 5 Premiere
Friday, October 2, 2009
Fourteen artists
reveal their ideas and perspectives on world events in the only series
dedicated exclusively to contemporary art. Join us for this unique screening–part
of a nationwide celebration of the season five premiere during the month of
October. Episode 1: Compassion features “artists whose works explore
the possibility of understanding and reconciling past and present, while
exposing injustice and expressing tolerance for others” and includes
William Kentridge, Doris Salcedo, and Carrie Mae Weems. Episode 2: Fantasy presents
“artists whose works or personal stories transport viewers to imaginary
worlds and altered states of consciousness . . . with works that seem at time
hallucinatory, irreverent, and sublime,” and includes Jeff Koons, Mary
Heilmann, Florian Maier-Aichen, and Cao Fei.
Family Night: Travel the Erie Canal
Friday, October 9
In collaboration with
Young Audiences
Featuring theater,
museum artifacts, creative writing, visual arts, and music.
Dreaming, Drumming
and Dance
Friday, October 16
In collaboration
with the C. G. Jung Center
Mask and mandala
making, archetypal treasure hunts, theater, and West African dance and
drumming.
Beyond the Line: An
Evening with Robert Mangold
Friday, October 23
American Minimalist
painter Robert Mangold returns to his native Western New York for the opening
of ROBERT MANGOLD Beyond the Line: Paintings and Project 2000-2008, a exhibition that
grew out of his invitation by the U.S. General Services Administration’s Design
Excellence Program to design the glass windows for the entry pavilion of the
United States Courthouse in downtown Buffalo, to be completed in 2010. This
evening’s Curator/Artist conversation will expound upon the concise survey of
Mangold’s works, organized by Albright-Knox Chief Curator Douglas Dreishpoon,
from the “Curled Figures,” “Column,” and “Column Structure” paintings in
context with the GSA Commission. A question-and-answer session and book signing
will follow. Also this evening, join us for guided architectural walking tours
of the Gallery’s exterior and a special art activity called “the floating
line.”
All Hollow’s Eve
Friday, October 30
The Greater Buffalo
Youth Ballet comes to the Albright-Knox for a unique Halloween-inspired
performance. Please join us for Halloween fun and see witches, bats, cats, and
more, all dancing to the enchanting music of Saint Saëns, Chadwick, and
Mussorgsky. Children (and adults!) are welcome to dress up in their favorite
costumes and learn fun Halloween dances. Also this evening, make your own mask
and hear Curator of Education Mariann Smith give a lecture about scary art.
Eek!
Friday, November
6: TBD
Family Night: The
Big Read celebrates The Great Gatsby/ Exhibition Opening of Topographies
Friday, November 13
In collaboration with
the Buffalo and Erie Public Library
Jazz Kids, 1920s
costume making, Charleston dance workshop, readings from The Great Gatsby, viewing of the film,
and more!
In the Artist’s
Studio: An Evening with Gregory Crewdson
Friday, November 20, 2009
Join Curator Heather
Pesanti for a unique, up-close-and-personal talk with renowned photographer
Gregory Crewdson, a contemporary artist known for “constructing and then
photographing elaborately devised tableaus of modern-day dreamscapes filled
with sexual ambiguity . . . blurring film and photography, reality and
fantasy.”
The Art of Wine
Friday, November 27, 2009
Wine has a rich
history in art. It has been depicted in various media, across all ages, and
affected artists and collectors alike. Join Curator of Education Mariann Smith
for a unique look at wine’s importance and influence in the arts. A wine
tasting will follow.
Friday, December 4: TBD
Friday, December 11: TBD
Music of the
Spheres
Friday, December 18
Chamber music,
seasonal entertainment, and a talk with Professor Aaron Greicius, Humboldt
University Institute of Mathematics, Berlin, on the connection between music
and mathematics.
Riverrun/U.B. Humanities Institute
presents “Scholars at muse”
Presentations take
place on select Fridays at 4 pm in muse, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s
restaurant.
Riverrun and the UB
Humanities Institute run the second year of Scholars at muse. On select Fridays
between September 2009 and April 2010, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s
restaurant becomes an intellectual salon presenting award-winning lectures in
the humanities, held in the social setting of the restaurant and bar.
18
Mazzio,
Associate Professor of English
Math”
October 16
Young,
Assistant Professor of History and African-American Studies
Make the Slave Anew’: Art, History, and the Politics of Authenticity”
Ablow,
Associate Professor of English
(Victorian) Truth of Torture”
Keane,
Associate Professor of English
and the Problem of Information”
The Hunt Real Estate and David Kennedy Art of Jazz Series:
An Evening with
Mike Jones
Saturday, October 24,
2009
Pre-concert
Conversation, 7 pm: Roll ‘Em Pete: The Life and Music of Pete Johnson
Concert, 8 pm
Heralded for “the
most remarkable pure technique of any piano player working in jazz today”
(Neil Tesser) and oft-compared to Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson, “the great
living Mainstream Monster of jazz piano” (Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News) takes a rare night
off from performing with Penn and Teller to make his first hometown appearance
in nearly a decade.
The Lou Donaldson
Quartet
Saturday, November 21,
2009
Pre-concert
Conversation, 7 pm: Preserving Buffalo’s Jazz History
Concert, 8 pm
From his appearances
on legendary Blue Note recordings in the 1950s with Thelonious Monk, Milt
Jackson, Jimmy Smith, and Clifford Brown to his pioneering soul-jazz hits like
“Alligator Boogaloo” and “The Blues Walk,” “Sweet Papa
Lou” Donaldson embodies more than a half-century of the jazz tradition as
“the greatest alto saxophonist in the world” (Lee Friewald, New
York Sun).
Hours: Thursday 10 am to 5 pm; Friday 10 am to
10 pm; Saturday and Sunday 10 am to 5 pm; closed Mondays, Tuesdays, and
Wednesdays. Admission: $12 for adults; $8 for seniors and students;
free for Gallery Members and children 12 and under. On Fridays from 3 to 10 pm, Gusto at the Gallery features a variety of
free programs for visitors of all ages.
For additional information, visit www.albrightknox.org.