"I really wanted to attend an institution that was somewhat of a community -- something small -- and to connect with professors and with the administration and have them know my name. And, because of MCLA's internship program, I was able to get my foot in the door at a very prominent company which jump-started my career."
Christina Barrett '03 Director of Marketing & Communications, Berkshire Chamber of Commerce
News & Press Releases
Feb. 15, 2008
NORTH ADAMS, MA – Beginning on Thursday, Feb. 28, MCLA Gallery 51 will focus on abstract art with an opening reception for “Preternatural Selection,” 5-7 p.m., in the downtown gallery.
The public is invited to attend this free event.
“This show will consist of an extraordinary collection of art,” gallery manager, Sean Riley said. “I’m excited about this exhibition. These artists are all young, emerging talents in their 20s who are beginning to exhibit their work in galleries across the country.”
“Preternatural Selection” will include paintings and sculpture made using abstraction as a tool. The exhibition’s five artists will present unusual and synthetic images that rely on a close relationship with the natural or experienced world, according to the show’s guest curator, Jessica Slaven.
“These documents recall private and contemplative experience while refusing the politics of transcendence, creating a beautiful, pragmatic and paraobjective language,” Slaven said. “The show’s title, Preternatural Selection, describes the way in which these artists select the prevailing motifs, functions, or manners of different systems of representation and merge them innovatively to produce a fluent, powerful, and superior means of statement.”
Slaven is a New York-based artist and author of a forthcoming article in “Paper Monument,” which discusses contemporary urban earthworks. A graduate of The Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, and Skowhegan, Slaven recently showed her artwork at Brooklyn Fireproof and David Krut Projects in New York City.
The artists for “Preternatural Selection” include Lisha Bai, Hanna Sandin and Roger White of New York City; Jon Rajkovich of Los Angeles; and Hunter Stabler of Philadelphia.
The exhibition will run through March 23. MCLA Gallery 51 is at 51 Main St., North Adams. The Gallery is open daily, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, 413-664-8718, or go to www.mcla.edu/Gallery51 .
