ViewPoints 2012: Studio Montclair's 15th Annual Open Juried Exhibition

Press Release

“Viewpoints 2012,” the annual national juried art exhibition sponsored by Studio Montclair, will be on view at the William Paterson University Galleries in the Ben Shahn Center for the Visual Arts on campus from March 26 through April 20, 2012. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on Saturday, March 31 from 3 to 5 p.m.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Studio Montclair will sponsor a discussion with exhibition juror Alexandra Schwartz, curator of contemporary art at the Montclair Art Museum, and David Shapiro, William Paterson University professor of art, on Tuesday, April 12, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in the Galleries. They will discuss the imagery, ideas, and techniques explored in the exhibition. All events are open to the public.

The exhibition, in Ben Shahn’s East and South Galleries, includes works by 43 contemporary artists from across the United States who have used an array of media and techniques to offer diverse perspectives on contemporary life. The exhibition, curated by Alexandra Schwartz, curator of contemporary art at the Montclair Art Museum, includes artworks in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, photography, film and video.

“The exhibition offers a slice of what contemporary artists around the country are finding most compelling in their worlds, and in so doing, offers a representative sampling of larger preoccupations in contemporary art,” says Schwartz. “More than anything else, these artists seem absorbed in the everyday: the images, people, objects, and issues that make up the fabric of contemporary life.”

Among the artists featured in the exhibit is Paho Mann of Dallas, Texas, whose photographs investigate issues of environmental awareness. As part of the “North Gateway Transfer Station Project,” he made nearly 6,000 photographs of individual recyclables, such as water bottles and newspapers. “What we own and consume reveals something about our identity and culture, and this examination underlines the importance of making thoughtful choices in what we do with these objects,” he explains. “The resulting images attempt to show particular objects, not the abstract understanding of the hundreds of millions of tons of waste created in the United States each year.”

JC Lenochan of Orange, New Jersey creates photographs, mixed media installations, and chalk drawings, such as “12 Ways to Start a Dialogue,” to confront cultural bias in academic and other exclusive environments. “My work is a collision of critical thoughts and conversations regarding pedagogy in relation to current events,” he says. “ I am concerned with social condition as it relates to issues of sex, race and class while investigating the psychological impact of misinformation in the public sphere. The work is not meant to teach but to share a vigorous perspective, for purposes of dialogue in disrupting normal patterns of thought.”

Jenny Weiner of Tavares, Florida explores the process of thinking in her drawings, in which she measures historical paintings such as Cezanne’s painting, Mount Saint Victoire seen from Les Lauvres (1902-2906), and redraws the prominent elements as a construction of planes of color. “I hope to reveal and analyze the numerical systems that we are reduced to: pin numbers, serial numbers, illogical random numbers, units of measurement – measuring everything and nothing,” she explains.

In her “Rabble” Series of paintings, Beth Blake of Greenville, North Carolina examines her trepidation at relocating to a more urban environment through portraits of individuals she has approached to paint, most of whom are complete strangers. “I spend two to three hours with each subject composing a preliminary drawing and extracting information for the final portrait,” she reveals. “Each portrait is the result of the degree of familiarity allowed by the individual, as well as my interpretation of the information given.”

Other participating artists include Liz Adams-Jones, Peter Aldrich, Laura Atria, Michal Barkai, Douglas Barrett, Amy Becker, Sarah Becktel, Tressa Croce Breton, Ron Brown, Jeanne V. Campbell, Robert Cullinane, Tracy Deer, Matthew Feuer, Dail Fried, George Garbeck, Robin Gibson, Alison Golder, Joan Goldsmith, Victoria Goro-Rapoport, Beth Gouldin, Jeanne Heifetz, Patricia Horing, Reneé Lachman, Yvette Lucas, So Yoon Lym, Dave Magyar, Betty McGeehan, Leslie Milton, Rita Noe, Christopher J. Piccinich, Gail Postal, Claudia Samper, Sylvia Schwartz, Merrill Steiger, D.B. Stovall, Michael Teters, Peter Tilgner, Andrew Verhoeckx, and David Witten.

Schwartz, who joined the Montclair Art Museum as curator of contemporary art in 2010, previously served as the coordinator of the Museum of Modern Art’s Modern Women’s Project and curator of Mind and Matter: Alternative Abstractions. A graduate of Harvard University, Schwartz received her Ph.D. and M.A. in the history of art from the University of Michigan.

Studio Montclair Inc. is a non-profit organization of exhibiting professional and emerging artists and others interested in the visual arts. The mission of the organization is to promote culture and education in the visual arts.

The exhibition is one of two shows on view concurrently in the University Galleries. “Con los santos no se juega/Don’t Mess with the Saints,” on view in the Court Gallery from March 26 through April 27, explores the role of spirituality in contemporary Latino art. The exhibition is held in conjunction with the University’s 2012 Cross-Cultural Arts Festival: Latin America and the Caribbean.

This exhibit is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. The William Paterson University Galleries are wheelchair-accessible. Large-print handouts are available. For additional information, please call the Galleries at William Paterson University at 973-720-2654.