The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art acquires artwork for
‘Collecting Local: 12 Years of the Hudson Valley Artists
Annual Purchase Award’
Linda Marston-Reid Published 8:00 a.m. ET Feb. 27, 2020 | Updated 3:04 p.m. ET Feb. 28, 2020
One of the most important milestones in the career of an artist is to have their work included into a permanent museum collection. The Samuel Dorsky
Museum of Art has established an annual purchase award and acquired artwork over the past 12 years through the Alice and Horace Chandler Art
Acquisitions Fund. The exhibit, Collecting Local: Twelve Years of the Hudson Valley Artists Annual Purchase Award is a rare opportunity to see selections
of the collection together.
Entering the gallery, it’s apparent that the collection has been built with a discerning, yet diverse eye. The exhibit includes video, sculptural installation,
paintings, photography, mixed media and ceramics, yet all these artwork together creates a vivid picture of the work of contemporary Hudson Valley
artists.
“Libby Paloma’s Chingona AKA
Libby” (from the series “Lo Que
No Sabrias”), 2017. (Photo:
Provided by Samuel Dorsky
Museum of Art)
“Strapat” by Stephen Niccolls was
acquired for the Dorsky in
2014. (Photo: Provided by Samuel
Dorsky Museum of Art)
“Carrying” (Pistol PackingPupils), 2010 contains 50 digital prints on aluminum detailing local school gun laws. (Photo: Provided by Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art)
Many of the artworks included in this exhibit turn the mirror back onto our culture as they examine climate change, violence in our society, and
displacement. Curt Beishe and Lise Prown collaborated on the installation Carrying (Pistol Packing Pupils) 2010, an artwork that makes a statement our gun culture and gun laws in schools across the United States. Seen in a context of when the sculpture was created, we have seen 10 additional
years of gun deaths in our schools.
Libby Paloma creates wall hung multi-media pieces that memorialize her Chicanx and queer culture. In Chingona AKA Libby, she remembers her family
roots while she claims her own individuality. The piece is embellished with seed beads and tiny objects that depict her world.
Several paintings are featured using a variety of style and approaches to working with paint. Nestor
Madalengoitia’s work, Simon Bolivar – Hero 2, uses the artist’s trademark signature of portraiture with lettering
and designs that feel inspired by Incan civilization from centuries ago. Thomas Sarrantonio’s small paintings paper show us the bird’s-eye view of forests with waterways from his series, Forest Paintings.
Charles Geiger’s works are not only beautiful, but also a statement on the environment as shown in his painting,
Out of Sight, inviting the viewer to search within the jungle of flowers and plant-like objects. In Stephen Niccolls’
painting, Strapat, the artist has pared down shapes to explore the essence of painting. Looking closely at the
artwork, you will see the deliberate brushstrokes and placement of color.
There are several fine examples of photography in the exhibit from François Deschamps series, Available, where
the artist places an image of a person alongside an empty storefront, to Richard Edelman’s dramatic piece,
Rebekah Creshkoff in Search of Matilda, a study of shadow and light.
Several artists use existing materials to reconceptualize the work, as Barbara Leon’s Homo Naturalis, where the artist has taken an
existing poster and painted over the images. Don’t pass by the
grouping of steel engravings; look closely to see how Jean-Marc
Superville Sovak has inserted images that change the perception these formerly bucolic landscapes.
As you depart this exhibit, pause a few moments at the gallery
entrance to enjoy Patrick Kelley’s ethereal video, 175 Rome Churches.
Linda Marston-Reid is an artist, writer and executive director of Arts
Mid-Hudson. Art From Here appears every other week in Enjoy!
Contact her at 845-454-3222 or LMR@ArtsMidHudson.org.
If you go:
What: Collecting Local: Twelve Years of the Hudson Valley Artists Annual Purchase Award is up through July 12, 2020.
Where: The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at State University of New York at New Paltz, 1 Hawk Drive (75 S. Manheim Boulevard for GPS), New Paltz.
Hours: Wednesday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Mondays, Tuesdays and holidays. Closed for spring break March 14-22.
Special Events:
Sunday, March 8, 3 p.m. Performance: the culminating performance of a collaboration between The Dorsky Museum and The Hudson Valley Performing
Arts Laboratory, in which community members worked collaboratively on a creative, theatrical interpretation of the Museum’s Spring 2020 exhibitions.
More info: newpaltz.edu/museum/programs/specialevents.
Sunday, April 19, 2 p.m. Family Day: Join exhibiting artist Amy Talluto for exhibition-inspired activities for children and their families in conjunction with
Collecting Local: Twelve Years of the Hudson Valley Artists Annual Purchase Award. Free, but please register: newpaltz.edu/museum/learn/familydays.
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