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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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TRIBUTE
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| April 22 –
May 29, 2004 Opening reception Thursday April 22, 2004 from 6pm - 8pm |
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In honor of the 10th anniversary of the artist’s death and our collaboration with the Sarah G. Austin Foundation, KIMBERLY VENARDOS & COMPANY is pleased to announce the opening of an exhibition of work by SARAH AUSTIN (1935–1994), on view from April 22nd to May 29th, 2004. The gallery is located at 1014 Madison Avenue, between 78th and 79th Streets. In her collage constructions SARAH AUSTIN drew inspiration from museum environments, concentrating on broad themes in 20th Century art and the creative forces behind them – sculptors, painters, the Surrealists and the Cubists. The daughter of A. Everett "Chick" Austin, Jr., pioneering director of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, SARAH AUSTIN’s life was immersed in the arts, which deeply informed her thinking. Using citation and paraphrase and often juxtaposing artist self-portraits together with their iconic creations, AUSTIN’s meticulously constructed assemblages give a uniquely personal summation of the movements and figures in art history, through a sophisticated handling of spatial and structural relationships. TRIBUTE focuses on AUSTIN’s early works from 1969-1981 and will progress from intimate to large-scale compositions, many of which have never before been exhibited. Surrealism (1977), reads like an anthology, presenting major figures of the period such as de Chirico, Miro, Ernst, Magritte and Dali. These artists appear, often repeatedly, in photographic portraits as well as through fragments of their paintings. Overlapping and intermingling, the composite surface reaches imposing dimensions and corresponding intensity, embodying something of the unconscious flow that is one of Surrealism’s conspicuous attributes. Jackson Pollock (1975), one of several “lightboxes,” captures the legendary painter in a moment of creative action. His body bent forward and arms extended, the floor illuminated, AUSTIN’s staged diorama immortalizes Pollock and his heroic gesture with cinematic theatricality. 16 Modern Sculptors (1981), gathers the work of Brancusi, Giacometti, Lachaise and others in separate intricately detailed compartments. Shifting in depth and tone, AUSTIN’s vigorous composition offers a stunningly concise account of modern art. SARAH AUSTIN’s work is in the collections of the New Britain Museum of Art, The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University. KIMBERLY VENARDOS & COMPANY exclusively represents the work of SARAH AUSTIN.
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday,
10am - 6pm.
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