home >> rotunda >> post-everything THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2008  |    Contact Us    |    Site Map
 
 
   



Contact & Directions

 
 


Time's Arrow -> Twelve Random
Thoughts on Beauty

Janine Cirincione, curator
Rosemary Laing, 'Burning Ayer #6' (2003) November 17- December 23, 2005

Admission is FREE

OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION:
Thursday, November 17 - 6pm-8pm

This exhibition will debate beauty's relevance and value, presenting a range of works whose incontrovertible elegance, beauty and opulence belie a more serious social, cultural or political agenda. Perceived as a kind of modernist dividing line in the Duchamp/Matisse standoff, the debate over beauty's relevance and value remains pressing in today's discourse on contemporary art.


Curatorial Statement
Exhibition Checklist
Gallery Location/Directions
Acknowledgements


Curatorial Statement

We often hear that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the fact is, it's more complicated than that. Umberto Eco's new book, A History of Beauty, which was the inspiration for the current exhibition, discusses how our perceptions and conceptions of art and beauty are really a dynamic between object and cultural context well before the beholder weights in. Like Eco's book, Time's Arrow hops and skips through current art historical practices with abandon, presenting a range of work whose incontrovertible ornamentation, beauty and opulence belie a more serious social, cultural or political agenda.

Andre Breton declares "Beauty will be CONVULSIVE or will not be at all." Virginia Woolf decries "The beauty of the world… has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder." In other words, beauty, without the depth wrought by heartbreak, wisdom and human experience, is merely eye candy.

— Janine Cirincione


Exhibition Checklist

Unless otherwise noted all works are from the collection of the artists; dimensions are given in inches (height x width x depth).

  Click on thumbnails
for larger image

Kamrooz Aram
Untitled, 2004
oil on canvas
68 x 56 inches

   

 
Adriana Arenas
Sweet Illusion, 2005
two-channel DVD
4:49 minutes

   

 
Rina Banerjee
Buzz, Attack, Sting-Withdraw Swollen with Blood, 2005
ink, dye, cut out, prints, peacock hair and saran
30 x 20 inches

   
 
Tongues Reach, 2004
Mixed media on paper
30 x 20 inches

   

 
Ambreen Butt
Untitled (AB68), 2005
watercolor, white gouache and gold leaf on Wasli paper
24 x 19 ½ inches

 
 
Detail
 
Untitled (AB69), 2005
watercolor, white gouache and gold leaf on Wasli paper
24 x 19 ½ inches

 
 
Detail

 
Michael Ferraro
Claudia Hart

Sleeping Beauty, 2005
Interactive screen-based Installation;
plasma screen, Mac G5 computer, infra-red camera and proprietary software
Edition 1 of 3

   

 
Chitra Ganesh
Untitled, 2005
mixed media on wood panel
variable dimensions

   

 
Kent Henricksen
Timeless Romance, 2005
embroidery thread on woven fabric
26 x 27 inches

   
 
Untitled, 2005
embroidery thread on gouache on paper
14 ½ x 27 ½ inches

   

 
Rosemary Laing
Burning Ayer #6,, 2003
C-print, edition 4 of 10
48 ¾ x 94 ¾ inches

 
 
Detail

 
Laura Letinsky
Untitled #10, 1999
chromogenic print, edition 9 of 15
19 ½ x 24 inches

 
 
Detail
 
Untitled #23, 1999
chromogenic print, edition 11 of 15
18 ¾ x 24 inches

   
 
Untitled #49, 2002
chromogenic print, edition 7 of 15
19 x 28 inches

 
 
Detail
 
Untitled #54, 2002br> chromogenic print, edition 13 of 15
22 ¾ x 31 inches

 
 
Detail

 
Frederique Loutz
Untitled #1, 2005
Ink, watercolor and gouache on paper
25 x 32 ½ " inches

   
 
Untitled #2, 2005
Ink, watercolor and gouache on paper
12 ¾ x 9 ¾ " inches

   
 
Untitled #3, 2005
Ink, watercolor and gouache on paper
12 ¾ x 9 ¾ " inches

   

 
Sarah Gregg Millman
The Headliner, 2003
single-channel DVD format, edition 1 of 5
4:26 minutes

   
 

 
Tina Potter
Leaves at Sunset, 2003
photocopies laminated on Plexiglas and mounted on anodized aluminum
33 x 21 inches

   
 
On the Beach #3, 2003
photocopies laminated on Plexiglas and mounted on anodized aluminum
31 x 21 inches
   
 
On the Beach #4, 2003
photocopies laminated on Plexiglas and mounted on anodized aluminum
31 x 21 inches
   
On the Beach #6, 2003
photocopies laminated on Plexiglas and mounted on anodized aluminum
31 x 20 inches
   

 
Shazia Sikander
Maligned Monster 1, 2000
aquatint, sugarlift with chine colle
22 ¼ x 29 ¾, edition of 50

   
 
Maligned Monster 2, 2000
quatint, sugarlift with chine colle
22 ¼ x 29 ¾, edition of 50
   

 
Fred Tomaselli
562 eyes in self-surveillance, 1998
etching, edition 23 of 40
36 ¼ x 40 ¾ inches

   
 
50v's for the center of your face, 1998
etching, edition 1 of 40
42 ¼ x 35 inches

   
 

 
Penelope Umbrico
Mirror (From Catalog) #109, 2005
chromogenic color print, plexiglas
19 x 14 inches

   
 
Mirror (From Catalog) #114, 2005
chromogenic color print, plexiglas
18 x 24 inches

   
 
Mirror (From Catalog) #115, 2005
chromogenic color print, plexiglas
20 x 15.3 inches

   
 
Mirror (From Catalog) #013, 2005
chromogenic color print, plexiglas
16 x 11.2 inches

   
 
Mirror (From Catalog) #004, 2005
chromogenic color print, plexiglas
16 x 10.6 inches

   
 

 
Walker and Walker
Twilight, 2003
Neon, reflection on glass, edition 1 of 5
5 x 16 inches

   
 


 

The purchase of artwork is an important way individuals can support contemporary artists and share their work with others. The Rotunda Gallery is a not-for-profit exhibition space and retains 20% of the proceeds of sales to help underwrite its exhibitions and educational programs. Please ask the gallery sitter if you would like additional information.

Back to top
 



Gallery Location/Directions

The Rotunda Gallery (33 Clinton Street, Brooklyn Heights), housed in an award-winning space designed by Smith-Miller + Hawkinson, supports the work of Brooklyn artists. The Rotunda Gallery's educational programs reach 9,000 students each year with gallery visits and in-school art making projects. The Rotunda Gallery is a project of the not-for-profit BRIC/Brooklyn Information & Culture, Inc.

Located in Brooklyn Heights, just over the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, the Gallery is also easily accessible by public transportation. It is a short walk from the 2,3; 4,5; M; or R trains at the Court Street/Borough Hall station; or the A, C trains at High Street.

Back to top



Acknowledgements

The Rotunda Gallery is grateful for the generous support of our exhibition and education programs from Astoria Federal, the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, the Sally and Milton Avery Foundation, Bloomberg L.P., Citigroup Foundation, Commerce Bank, Con Edison, Forest City Ratner Companies, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the Independence Community Foundation, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the New York Times Company Foundation, the Pepsi Cola/Hip-Hop Summit Partnership, Target, Washington Mutual Bank, as well as numerous individuals.

Programs are made possible in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development; Borough President Marty Markowitz; New York City Council members Erik Martin Dilan, Lewis Fidler, Vincent Gentile, and Al Vann; and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The Rotunda Gallery is a program of BRIC/Brooklyn Information & Culture

Back to top