The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design Announces Anguish: the Grave Misgivings of Remembrance
Opening on Friday, October 28th from 5:00-8:00pm
On View through January 14, 2017
Curated by Cynthia Nourse Thompson, Associate Professor and Director of the MFA programs in Studio Art and Book Arts + Printmaking at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Anguish: the Grave Misgivings of Remembrance is a visceral portrait of isolation, desire and remorse. Removed from the shadows, a collection of international artists present a visual dialogue which is strikingly raw and at the surface of our emotional armature—one which we work diligently to prevent illuminating. This imposing presence of fear and loss compounded by images, which while beautiful are laden with sorrow, regret and despondency, beckon the viewer to pause and reflect on the frailty of contemporary society and the frailty of our own existence. Artists represented in the exhibition include Janine Antoni, Louise Bourgeois, Gail Deery, Nils Ericson, Carson Fox, Markus Hansen, Jenny Holzer, Anders Krisar, Rosemary Laing, Roberto Mannino, Martha McDonald, Oscar Muñoz, Piper Shepard, Donna Smith, and Anna Tsantir. Although these artists confront the viewer with fearful depths lurking beneath our exterior, their images beckon us to fathom its darkness and arise to find strength, clarity and the recognition that without this palpable dimness light would not exist. Within darkness there are moments of great beauty and certainty. A catalogue designed by David Charles Chioffi will accompany the exhibition and will be available for purchase.
Free and open to the public, the show will open on Friday, October 28th from 5-8pm. Anguish: the Grave Misgivings of Remembrance will be on view at MECA&D’s ICA through January 14, 2017.
The curator will present a lecture on Friday, October 28, 2016 at 1:00 pm in the Osher Lecture Hall. Thompson will discuss her personal work as an artist and additionally her work as a curator establishing high profile exhibitions with a national reputation and curatorial vision for the galleries she has overseen.
For more information or to request an interview, please contact MECA&D’s Director of Exhibitions and Special Projects, Erin Hutton, at 207.699.5025 or ehutton@meca.edu.
Artist: Martha McDonald; Photographer: Christian Capurro; Medium: dress-crepe paper fused to muslin and interfacing, polyester thread, metal fasteners, cotton tape, elastic cord; platform--birch plywood. Dimensions: dress: 67" x 55"; platform: 14" x 89" x 89"