All Exhibitions

Focus: Artist As Observer

On view: –
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Exhibiting Artists

Will Ellis, Richard Renaldi, Jessica Wolff, CMA Permanent Collection, Participants from Pop-Up Museum Sites

Click here to see more images from Focus: Artist As Observer

Focus: Artist as Observer, on view in the Cynthia C. Wainwright Gallery, explores the ways artists examine and celebrate various aspects of heritage, culture, neighborhood and personal identity.

A generous grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services funded CMA to curate and present three themed traveling exhibitions, or Pop-Up Museums, based on selected works from CMA’s Permanent Collection. Throughout the year, the Pop-Up Museums traveled to three distinct underserved communities in NYC. With the primary focus being identity, these three exhibitions were entitled, Places and Spaces (P.S. 124), Faces and Characters (Henry Street Settlement’s Urban Family Center) and Subjects and Objects (Broadway Housing Communities).

Focus: Artist as Observer merges these three exhibitions with the work of contemporary artists, including Will Ellis, Richard Renaldi, and Jessica Wolff, to communicate the importance of our individual and collective identities, and how we connect with the world at large.

As we look at the work in this exhibition, certain questions can be asked. How do artists represent the world around them? How do they choose to show people, places or things? Focus: Artist as Observer examines how art conveys identity through the lenses of symbolism, context, and each artist’s own perception of contemporary culture.

Support for this exhibition is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Also on view

  •  
    In the Pepperman Family Fine Arts Studio State of Cuteness: A Solo Exhibition by Aaron Phillips

  •  
    In the Pepperman Family Fine Arts Studio What I See When I Close My Eyes

    In partnership with Friends-International, a NGO that works with marginalized urban children and youth and their families and communities to help them become productive, independent citizens of their country. The exhibition includes a collection of self portrait stories created by street-living Cambodian children.

  •  
    In the Bridge Bridge Projects: Kambui Olujimi: Not Now Nor Then

    Kambui Olujimi is a multimedia artist whose works often explore social practices, such as wishing on pennies, sharing photos, or dream interpretation books. In the video on display, the artist has created fantastical environments out of household materials and used stop-motion animation and time-lapse recordings to depict a voyager who has lost her way. Visitors to the installation are invited to make their own video recordings using the sets on display, with assistance from CMA’s Teaching Artists. Periodically throughout the installation, the artist will incorporate these contributions into the film on view.

    Our heroine has suddenly found herself disconnected from the rest of the world. With no technology to help her, she occupies a strange, mystical landscape that is removed from anything she knew before. What sort of characters and places will she encounter on this journey, and does she eventually make it home?

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