March 3–May 12, 2019
MAG is pleased to announce the world premiere of Lessons of the Hour, a ten-screen installation by artist Isaac Julien. The work is inspired by episodes in the life of Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), the visionary African American abolitionist and freed slave, and by the issues of social justice that shaped his life’s work. Lessons of the Hour—Frederick Douglass is the second exhibition in MAG’s “Reflections on Place” series of media art commissions informed by the history, culture, and politics of the City of Rochester, New York.
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shown: Isaac Julien, Lessons of the Hour, 2019. Courtesy the Artist, Metro Pictures New York, and Victoria Miro London/Venice
Through April 14, 2019
New work by Sarah C. Rutherford, Her Voice Carries | Prelude is now on view in the Hurlbut Gallery. This work is part of her #HerVoiceCarries series, an art project on view throughout Rochester, featuring Rochester women who are changing their individual and collective worlds.
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The portfolio Modern Czech Photography (Moderní česká fotografie) is a rare and powerful body of work by some of the most important mid-century Czech photographers. Featuring such masters as Jaromír Funke and Josef Sudek, giants in the history of modernism, the portfolio holds special historic importance because it was published in 1943, during World War II and the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. The portfolio is a recent gift to MAG by the museum’s director, Jonathan Binstock, and his wife, Ann. learn more shown: Jaromír Funke (Czech, 1896-1945) Untitled, from the series ‘Time Persists’ (detail) 1932, printed no later than 1943. Gift of L. Ann and Jonathan P. Binstock in honor of Marisol and Moreton Binn.
This small but powerful focus exhibition of Claude Monet’s “Waterloo Bridge” series includes the stellar example from MAG’s collection along with seven others borrowed from North American sister institutions. Monet saw the paintings both individually and as an ensemble that, collectively, expressed his sense of the essential subject—the atmosphere and colors of the fog-bound landscape of the Thames. The concurrent experience of viewing several of the series will create a special dialogue between the visitor and the works of art. An exciting aspect of this exhibition is the opportunity to work closely with conservation lab at Buffalo State University. Newly-developed photographic technologies that allow close examination of the surface of the picture will make it possible to decipher more about how Monet altered his canvases from their initial rendering in London to his obsessive reworking of the canvases upon his return to France. Learn more shown: Claude Monet, Waterloo Bridge, Veiled Sun (detail) 1903
Developed as a companion to Monet’s Waterloo Bridge: Vision and Process, this exhibition features artists such as Josef Albers, Victor Vasarely, and Jesús Rafael Soto, who chose abstraction over representation to reveal the mechanics of human vision and make viewers aware of how they see. Learn more shown: Roy Lichtenstein, Cathedral #2 (detail) 1969
Esther Nisenthal Krinitz was 12 in 1939 when the Nazis came to her Polish village. She remembers every detail through a series of exquisitely embroidered fabric collages. Her art is an eyewitness account of tragedy and healing. Listen in to the Rochester Jewish Film Festival interview on Connections with WXXI’s Evan Dawson. Learn more Shown: Passover Matzos, (detail) Embroidery and fabric collage, 1998.
Bruce Nauman’s No, No, New Museum is an iconic work of video art from the 1980s by one of the medium’s most influential practitioners. Its exhibition at MAG is made possible by a partnership with Art Bridges—arts patron Alice Walton’s effort to share outstanding works of American art with museums across the country. learn more shown: Bruce Nauman (American, b. 1941) No, No, New Museum, 1987 Videotape (color, sound), 62 minutes © Art Bridges
Josephine Tota was a first-generation Italian immigrant who spent much of her adult life working as a seamstress in Rochester. In her early seventies, she discovered painting as a means to transform a difficult past into harrowing, self-referential images. Channeling the world around and within her through the legacy of religious art and the language of Surrealism, she produced a decade’s worth of visionary images in the privacy of her home before succumbing to dementia. Fourteen tempera paintings from Memorial Art Gallery’s permanent collection form the core of the exhibition, augmented by approximately 70 from private lenders.
shown: Nancy Jurs, Artist Statement (My Life Has Gotten So Busy, It Now Takes Up All of My Time), 2008
My Life Has Gotten So Busy that It Now Takes Up All of My Time is an exhibition of sculptural installations and photographs by Rochester-based artist Nancy Jurs that focuses on self-portraiture, autobiography, and personal narrative. Jurs is well known as a potter who trained at Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for American Craftsmen. Less known are her sculptures and installations that employ found, unaltered objects, which evoke personages or anthropomorphic visions, and her manipulated photographs. These works of art represent a surprising and compelling conceptual thread throughout Jurs’ career. Learn more
shown: Larry Merrill, Untitled
Wards of Time: Photographs of Antiquities by Larry Merrill includes a selection of images from an ongoing series by Rochester photographer Larry Merrill. In this work, Merrill directs our gaze, magnifying and abstracting the texture and tonal variations of ancient sculptures that signify the accrual of time. As part of the series, Merrill visited the Memorial Art Gallery’s collection and photographed 3rd century BCE miniature sculpted Egyptian heads, which will be on view adjacent to their photographs. Merrill’s photographs offer a reflection on time and decay, on the museum artifact, on history, and on our own mortality. Learn more
Martyrs is overtly rooted in art historical and religious iconography. Viola said: “The Greek word for martyr originally meant ‘witness.’ In today’s world, the mass media turns us all into witnesses to the suffering of others. The martyrs’ past lives of action can help illuminate our modern lives of inaction. They also exemplify the human capacity to bear pain, hardship, and even death in order to remain faithful to their values, beliefs, and principles. This piece represents ideas of action, fortitude, perseverance, endurance, and sacrifice.” learn more shown: Bill Viola Earth Martyr, 2014; Wind Martyr, 2014; Fire Martyr, 2014; Water Martyr, 2014 Color high-definition video on a flat-panel display mounted vertically on wall 42 3/8 x 24 1/2 x 2 5/8 in. (107.6 x 62.1 x 6.8 cm) 7:10 minutes Photos: Kira Perov
NOSFERATU (The Undead) is the first of three exhibitions to be presented as part of “Reflections on Place,” a series of media art commissions inspired by the City of Rochester and curated by world-renowned authority on the moving image John G. Hanhardt. Experience Javier Téllez’ new installation, which explores the history of cinema and the medium of film itself to address the subject of mental illness. Learn more
Rosalyn Engelman (American, born 1938) is a painter, sculptor, and installation artist. She works with a variety of materials and produces art with a striking range of expressive content. In all of her work, Engelman is searching for beauty, hope, and transcendence. This exhibition features five works from Engelman’s 2003–04 “Echo Sonata” series, which she created following numerous trips to Japan with her husband between 1975 and 1999. Engelman is a University of Rochester alumna, and currently lives and works in New York, NY. Learn more
This exhibition is the first to showcase the digitally crafted works of Wendell Castle, acclaimed figure of the American art furniture movement. It will feature approximately 40 works of art, including several historically important examples that inspired his latest achievements. learn more Both films featured in this exhibition are open-captioned. shown: Wendell Castle Remastered, Long Night (detail), 2011, photo by Adrien Millot Courtesy of Friedman Benda Gallery and Wendell Castle. Wendell Castle Remastered at the Memorial Art Gallery is an adaptation of the exhibition originally presented at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, in 2015.
The exhibition Kiyochika and Japan, Transformed showcases over 30 color woodblock prints by Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915), who witnessed firsthand the transformation of Japan when it opened to the West after centuries of isolation. These prints, drawn from the extraordinary collections of University of Rochester alumnus Arthur R. Miller, emphasize the complexities of modern and traditional life in late-19th century Japan. Kiyochika’s work is characterized by his innovative use of light and shadow as well as his juxtapositions of subject matter, both old and new, in his rapidly changing world. learn more
June 30 – September 17, 2017This single-channel video installation features Lady Bunny, an iconic drag performer. She speaks on politics and current events, dances and lip-syncs. She is a vivid presence, especially considering the wall-size scale of the video. learn more shown: Here she is…v1 (detail) 2015. © Charles Atlas; Courtesy of the artist
Rainforest IV is an immersive audio installation created by the Eastman Audio Research Studio (EARS) at the Eastman School of Music, under the direction of Oliver Schneller, with assistance from Allen Topolski, Associate Professor of Art at the University of Rochester. Rainforest is a sonic environment made of handmade, uniquely designed sculptural objects suspended in space and fitted with electric transducers, turning them into resonant sound objects. At this special opening event, Missy Pfohl Smith, Director of the University of Rochester’s Dance and Movement Program, Anne Harris Wilcox, and Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp will improvise a performance to which the musicians will sonically respond. Originally conceived by sound artist and pianist David Tudor in 1973, Rainforest IV is a sonic environment made of handmade, uniquely designed sculptural objects suspended in space and fitted with electric transducers, turning them into resonant sound objects. shown: Installation of Rainforest IV (1973), L’Espace Pierre Cardin, Paris, 1976. Photograph by Ralph Jones (American, b. 1951) © 1976 Ralph Jones. All rights reserved. Image courtesy of Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. Materials generously donated by Metalico Rochester.
In honor of New York Women’s Suffrage Centennial in 2017, this exhibition explores the power of the female gaze in creating potent and complex images of mothers, thinkers, vixens, heroes, creators, warriors, and agitators. learn more shown: Elizabeth Catlett, Harriet, 1975
See six Pax Kaffraria “chapters” at MAG; one chapter at Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo). Mural-sized narratives of southern African culture. learn more shown: Fully Belly II, 2014 (detail)
Rauschenberg responded to the rise of mass-media culture during the 1950s and 1960s, by actually making mass media his artistic medium. learn more shown: Surface Series #53 (from Currents), 1970. ©Estate of Robert Rauschenberg / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.
As Gibson’s and Recoder’s work suggests, film is not only about images, storytelling and entertainment, but also possesses mechanical, and sculptural dimensions. learn more
Includes early figure drawings, lesser-known book illustrations, detailed Italian landscapes, the “tessellations” for which he became famous, and several examples of his signature architectural fantasies in which stairways seem to go nowhere or to mysteriously circle back upon themselves. learn more Back to top
Bodies in Space was the inaugural art exhibition of MAG’s Media Arts Initiative. learn more
June 10–August 28, 2016 in the Lockhart Gallery
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Pictured:Keith Haring, Apocalypse , 1988. Serigraph. Gift of Sharon and Neil Norry, and Lewis Norry and Jill Katz Norry.
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May 22–July 24, 2016 in the Grand Gallery
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Pictured: Robert Polidori, 2732 Orleans Ave., New Orleans, LA (2005). Collection of the artist.
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January 31–April 24, 2016
in the Grand Gallery & Lockhart Gallery
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Pictured: Tilmann Grawe (France), cocktail dress, 2003-04. Photo courtesy Johnson Publishing Company, LLC.
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December 10, 2015–January 24, 2016
in the Lockhart Gallery
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Pictured: Video still courtesy David Zwirner, NY/London.
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