If you’re basking in peaceful Upstate New York this summer, be sure to explore these profound exhibitions and programs as part of the celebratory fifth edition of Upstate Art Weekend (UAW), on view from July 18-21.
“Carrie Mae Weems: Remember to Dream”
CCS Bard
This nuanced presentation of the ever-inspired American artist Carrie Mae Weems revels in over 30 years of groundbreaking creative investigations while placing her personal encounters and dedication to activism at its heart. Poetic works of photography are married with momentous installations, weaving viscerally through time and space, from dynamic moments of the Civil Rights Movement to turning points of Black Lives Matter protests. Weems keenly invokes Amiki Bakara’s enlightening theme of “the changing same,” those perpetual cycles of racism and sexism throughout U.S. history, filling more than nine rooms with complex and critical works of art in a powerful show curated by Tom Eccles, Executive Director of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College.
What we love: Within a collection of poetic, black-and-white portraits titled Family Pictures and Stories (1978-1984), Weems shines light on the festivities and sufferings of family life in her hometown of Portland, Oregon.
June 22 – December 1, 2014
Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000
James Turrell’s Avaar
Catskill Art Space
James Turrell’s “Avaar” at Catskill Art Space, photo by Noah Kalina, courtesy of the artist and Catskill Art Space.
The enigmatic imagination of James Turrell is placed on sweeping display at Catskill Art Space with the installation Avaar (1982). Unfolding over multiple years, the legendary work submerges visitors in a room-size exploration of light, ingeniously challenging perceptions and the physical state of being. The tremendous first show held within CAS’s second floor gallery space is an integral model of the artist’s previous, wall-based “aperture” creations, where one half of the room functions as a “viewing space” and the other as a “sensing space.” Here, the literal and metaphorical modes of experiencing artwork are fully realized—and guests will be the first to do so with Avaar in almost 40 years.
What we love: Avaar utilizes solely white lighting—an exceptional and little seen expression of colorless creativity in Turrell’s expansive oeuvre.
2022 – 2027
48 Main Street, Livingston Manor, NY 12758
“Arlene Shechet: Girl Group”
Storm King Art Center
“Arlene Shechet: Girl Group” at Storm King Art Center, photo by David Schulze, courtesy of the artist and Storm King Art Center.
American artist Arlene Schechet illuminates her expressive process and penchant for spontaneity with six colossal sculptures at Storm King Center. The far-reaching exhibition, titled “Girl Group,” invites visitors to embark on a stirring journey of femininity throughout the galleries and winding fields of Storm King. The prismatic works of ceramic, wood, bronze, and steel—with evocative titles such as Rapunzel, Dawn, and Maiden May—create a visually arresting symphony of shifting forms and colors. The integration of Mother Nature in and around the artworks creates an ebb and flow between the absorption and reflection of light, sparking dialogue on the mightiness of womankind united.
What we love: Inside Storm King Center, Shechet’s Together series of ceramics are also on view. Developed during the solitude of COVID-19, the artist worked intensely to transmit a “strong sense of a life force that seemed to be gone during that time.”
May 4 – November 10, 2024
1 Museum Road, New Windsor, NY 12553
Nina Chanel Abney’s “LIE DOGGO”
Jack Shainman Gallery
Nina Chanel Abney, “I Am – Somebody,” 2022, diptych, 85 3/4 x 61 1/2 x 1 3/8 inches (each framed), collage on panel; courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery.
A kaleidoscopic exhibition of masterful and thought-provoking works by artist Nina Chanel Abney is currently on view at Jack Shainman Gallery in Kinderhook, NY. The show’s poignant title, “LIE DOGGO,” is a compelling phrase which means to lie in wait, patiently biding one’s time until a moment of opportunity arises. Through a promenade of creative endeavors—site-specific murals, paintings enhanced with collage, a monumental sculpture, and an experiential digital art installation—Abney investigates the behind-the-scenes, personal dramas surrounding global imperialism and widespread inequality. Conjuring the tender dynamism of Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and legends of the Harlem Renaissance Jacob Lawrence and Aaron Douglas, this multifaceted show embraces the unsaid and the unseen with creative prowess and triumphant humanity.
Art historian Richard J Powell delved into the artist’s innovative spirit during a lecture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art titled Blackbeats: Cubism Reimagined. “Abney’s dramatic patterns, geometric configurations, serrated fragments, and compositional convergences and disassemblings reimagine an art object’s geodesic position both to the viewer and within the canon,” Powell said. “She proposes a reimagined Cubism where color, form, and rhythm function counterintuitively as a presence, an accentuation, and evidence of the painting’s internal pulse.” — Source
What we love: Set within the provocative exhibition is an interactive digital art installation—the fierce finale from Abney’s time as an Artist-in-Residence with CryptoPunks. The visionary delves into the thorny concept of societal “values” and invites visitors to bring to life their own virtual avatars.
May 18 – October 5, 2024
25 Broad Street Kinderhook, NY 12106
