OUTDOOR SCULPTURE EXHIBITION
SEPTEMBER 21-OCTOBER 19, 2014
The Lennie Pierro Memorial Art Foundation with The Village of South Orange, Pierro Gallery (PGOSO) announces IN-SITE: the Intersection of Art and Architecture opening September 21 through October 19, 2014. This self-guided, outdoor sculpture exhibition presents over 20 works from 16 artists throughout Meadowland Park along the River Walkway and into the business district of South Orange. The opening on the 21st includes a reception and Meet the Artists at 3:00 at the Tony Smith sculpture, TAU in Meadowland Park, South Orange.
IN-SITE artists explore the connections and relationships between art and architecture. The focus provides contemporary approaches toward the environment and habitat as well as re-appropriating existing architectural elements in a contemporary, artistic endeavor. The works include site-specific pieces created especially for IN-SITE, as well as installations of existing work within a specific and selected space. This exhibition broadly reflects upon the work and principles of Tony Smith, native to South Orange, in probing the relationship of artistic impact on space and form.
Free brochures with maps of locations, artist’s descriptive statements and curators essays will be available at The Baird, the South Orange Public Library, Walsh Gallery, SHU and other sites throughout the Village, as well as at Play Day and in Meadowland Park on September 21. They can also be downloaded from www.pierrofoundation.org.
The variety in approaches to the theme is exemplified through South Orange artist, Kate Dodd, who playfully recreates the gas lamp, an icon of South Orange, using recycled detergent bottles to illuminate the River Walk while linking social concerns such as circulation and consumption. Brooklyn artist Oona Stern re-appropriates a bus shelter consisting of typical industrial framework of metal and plastic with tudoresque architectural motifs from the historic South Orange Village Hall. On September 21st, performance sculpture artist Nathaniel Lieb will complete 2 days of enclosing himself within a wire structure, then finding a space out, leaving behind the empty shell to consider. Other artists are Charlotte Becket and Roger Sayre, Joe Chirchirillo, Marc D’Agusto, Darren Fisher, Laura Tanner Graham, Ruth Hardinger, Lynn Koble, Eung Ho Park, Anne Percoco, Kara Rooney, Ryan Roa, and Kati Vilim.
The curators for IN-SITE are Jeanne Brasile (Director, Walsh Gallery, Seton Hall University; independent curator in the tri-state region; nationally recognized artist) and Tom McGlynn (independent curator; nationally recognized artist; writer); as well as Director for the project, Judy Wukitsch, LPMAF President and Sandy Martiny, PGOSO Director and Village representative for the project.
LPMAF will present a panel discussion, Art and Controversy, moderated by Dan Bischoff, Art Critic for the Star Ledger on October 2 at 7 pm, Seton Hall University. To further engage artists and audiences to consider all aspects of making art, its presentation in a public forum and the conflict that sometimes arise between intent and perception.
In addition, LPMAF is supplementing the South Orange Village Alliance Play Day September 21, 1-6 pm, with on-site collaborations between professional artist Russell Christian and the community with the same theme in mind. Building a monumental cardboard sculpture will engage visitors of all ages in the experience of exploring and creating with materials easily accessible while investigating spatial concepts together.
All programming is presented by the Lennie Pierro Memorial Arts Foundation, 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 and administered by the Essex county division of Cultural and Historic Affairs through a grant from the NJSCA; the Undergraduate Program in Art History and the MA Program in Museum Professions at Seton Hall University; and the Village of South Orange through the Pierro Gallery.
