The Dorsky Museum is back, following a lovely spring reception on Saturday, Feb. 10, for four new exhibits. These exhibits weave together four vastly different themes, creating a beautifully diverse art experience for the visitor. The exhibits are titled “Abstract Minded: Works by Six Contemporary African Artists;” “Marking Time: Andy Warhol’s Vision of Celebrations, Commemorations, and Anniversaries;” “Steven Holl: Making Architecture (Hudson Valley Master 2018);” and finally “The Dorsky Collects: Selections from the Permanent Collection.”
The opening reception was a hit, and the museum was hopping. Museum-goers seemed pumped about all of the new works, including museum director Sara Pasti.
“Each exhibition is exciting in its own way, presenting a unique way of seeing and being in the world,” Pasti said.“There is something to celebrate in each of these exhibitions, as well as in Barbara Morgan’s photographs on display in the museum’s Seminar Room, which celebrate the “body in motion.”
All in all, the biggest hit of the night seemed to be the Andy Warhol exhibit, “Marking Time.” The exhibit was jam-packed. Warhol’s film images, as well as experiments with other mediums, fall under five categories, labelled on the gallery wall: Holidays, Things, Death, People and Celebrations. This exhibition is apart of Warhol x5, a collaboration with four other area colleges celebrating Warhol’s work. The theme of “Marking Time” creates a gorgeous juxtaposition of death and tragedy with joy and everyday life. Additionally, Warhol’s works are accompanied by texts written by New Paltz students.
“Marking Time” is the direct result of an Art History class taught by Professor Reva Wolf, with wall and catalog texts written by SUNY New Paltz students,” Pasti says. “We are so proud to be able to share with the campus the work done by these students.”
The “Abstract Minded” exhibit also seemed to be a hit, and was constantly abuzz. The exhibit includes a great number of different mediums, from works made out of repurposed computer motherboards and old cell phones to large works of string or graphite. This exhibit highlighted the diversity of works from six different African abstract artists, including Osi Audu, Elias Simé, Nicholas Hlobo, Serge Alain Nitegeka, Odili Donald Odita and Nnenna Okore.
The “Making Architecture” exhibit is a part of the Dorsky’s Hudson Valley Master Series, which celebrates prominent artists who live or work in the Hudson Valley. This exhibit was particularly interesting, as it featured small models of buildings and sketches from the architectural process. One could almost envision stepping into these tiny structures.
The selections from the Dorsky’s permanent collection were as reliably interesting as ever, featuring many older Asian works and many old-school photographs printed on silver plates, called daguerreotypes.
The bringing together of so many different mediums and seams, which could possibly become overwhelming if not hung carefully, was seamless. Congrats to the Dorsky on another great reopening!