Happy and Healthy New Year to you and your family!!
A new show is coming up in Woodstock, NY. Looks interesting especially if you like Dutch painting.
"In conjunction with the exterior landscapes on view in the main gallery, The Center for Photography at Woodstock is pleased to present the interior tableaux that comprise VANITAS, a series of photographs by JUSTINE REYES.
Reyes’ work is inspired by the Dutch paintings of the same name, which were most popular during the 16th and 17th centuries. Vanitas paintings, while possibly containing lovely objects, usually incorporated some visual reference to mortality (often a human skull, but also with burning candles, soap bubbles, or decaying flowers). The purpose of such works was not solely aesthetic; they were meant to convey a deeply metaphysical message about the transience of earthly life.
Working off of the tradition of these still lifes, Reyes juxtaposes personal heirlooms and seemingly banal, everyday objects alongside symbols which hint at the passage of time. Her use of photography adds an additional layer of nostalgia and irony when looked at within the art historical framework of Vanitas, since we know that even these supposedly indelible images eventually fade. Reyes’ work primarily examines issues of familial legacy and the longing to hold onto things that are ephemeral and transitory by nature. Though the books, paintbrushes, and teacups in her images seem to have weathered the ravages of time, even they (along with the rotting fruit and wilting flowers) convey a sense of nostalgia and speak its inevitable passage.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Justine Reyes recieved her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2004 and her BFA from Syracuse University in 2000. She has shown her work nationally and internationally, participating in Provecto Circo at the 8th Havana Biennial in Cuba and Contemporary Istanbul in Turkey. In 2008, Reyes was an artist in residence at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and the Center for Photography at Woodstock, where the series VANITAS began. She was recently awarded the Individual Artist Initiative (IAI) from the Queens Council on the Arts and a workspace residency from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) for 2009-2010. To learn more about Justine Reyes, visit her website at www.justinereyes.com
VANITAS will be on view in CPW’s Kodak gallery from January 9 through February 28, 2010.
The opening reception will be held on Saturday, January 9th from 5-7pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment