The Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum presents a new exhibition focusing on the American experience.
Figurative artists often find narratives for their canvases from experiences in their personal lives and in their surrounding culture. The result is diverse compositions that speak to artists’ own perspectives, but the works usually capture the attention of viewers because there can be a sense of familiarity. In the exhibition We the People at Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in Arizona, more than a dozen artists will display artwork highlighting the American experience. These range from pieces with social commentary and self-reflection to works that record moments of everyday life.
On view through August 5, the show combines the ideas of its three curators—Tiffany Fairall, the museum’s curator of exhibitions; its chief curator Patty Haberman; and Frank Gonzales, an artist and the museum’s exhibit designer/preparator—to create a varied display of subjects, mediums and techniques. Fairall says, “Frank’s always had an interest in figurative art, and I had a more political bend and Patty is about showing exceptional artists.”
In further highlighting the show’s reach, the museum explains, “It is often said that America is a melting pot, but as we embrace our diversity and eclectic construct, perhaps a more fitting metaphor is the increasingly popular term ‘tossed salad.’ As a collective group of people with converging stories and different experiences, this exhibition captures a limited snapshot of the complex cultural fabric that binds not only our country but our humanity.”
This story is from the July 2018 edition of American Art Collector.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the July 2018 edition of American Art Collector.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Guardians of the Temple – Simon Dinnerstein reflects on The Fulbright Triptych 50 years later.
The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State University exhibits Simon Dinnerstein's The Fulbright Triptych haunts the visual lexicon of 20th century American representational art. Fifty years have passed since Dinnerstein completed the painting in 1974.
A City Perspective
Leslie Gaduzo has always been interIested in art. Since childhood, he has been drawing constantly, from single point perspective drawings at age 10 to complex architectural drawings.
Living Legacy
The Butler Institue hosts Allied Artists of America's 110th Annual Juried Exhibition.
Elegant yet Approachable
The second edition of the RTIA Show presents even more art to explore and expanded special programming.
Figuratively Speaking
New York has always been an epicenter of artists on the edge of excellence, pushing the envelope and finding their voices.
JAMES AYERS: The Importance of Play
Like many artists, James Ayers' work took a turn during the Covid-19 pandemic. Seeing the enjoyment his kids took from playing with paint in his studio and exploring their creativity inspired him.
GINA MINICHINO: Playing with Food
Gina Minichino started her journey in visual arts because of Charles Schulz. \"He was my earliest influence for drawing and the reason I wanted to be a cartoonist,\" she says.
Island Light
The Cuttyhunk Island Artists' Residency is held in a sprawling, 100-year-old house on an island off the southern coast of Massachusetts.
Solitary Forms
Hogan Brown has been working with Arcadia Contemporary for two and half years and is excited to be featured in his first solo show at the gallery. He doesn't take for granted the many talented figurative painters Arcadia represents and is thrilled to be among them.
Living the Dream
Counterintuitively, David Gluck was a painter before taking up tattooing little more than a decade ago. While skin is a completely different substrate and ink a far cry from oil paint, the skills must be transferrable to some degree because there is a wait-time of nine months to get an appointment with him.