Exhibitions
Current
EMERGING FIGURES: FIGURATIVE ART BY YOUNG CONTEMPORARIES
MARCH 9, 2023 - MAY 21, 2023
Emerging Figures: Figurative Art by Young Contemporaries showcases the works of nine figurative artists under the age of 30 who are making their mark on the Massachusetts SouthCoast region. Organized by Taylor Hickey, NBAM's Assistant Curator, Emerging Figures highlights the importance of providing support to young local voices.
Painter Amanda Arruda focuses on the inner psychological workings of the individual, often using windows as a metaphorical threshold between the internal and external experience. A common thread can be found in the charcoal drawings of Alison Borges, which explore the quiet intimacies of a solitary figure within the safety and confines of the home. Chloe Bachstein utilizes brightly colored oil paintings overlayed with colored plexiglass to evoke the idealized memories of childhood. Grechel Rosado – who views artmaking as a form of resistance – calls to mind her Puerto Rican roots with her large-scale relief prints. Madeline Peach, through autobiographical paintings, challenges heteronormative narratives and beauty standards. Cody Oliveira-Gingras finds inspiration for highly-textured oil paintings in mythos and allegory and the connections and parallels we find within them. Kate Korra develops figurative works in a variety of media as a means of studying the human experience. Stephanie Mysiuk-Bissen embodies feelings of discomfort in her fast-paced charcoal drawings and mixed-media sculptures. Alexandra Landry is driven to capture the energy and narrative of her subjects through oil paintings with expressive brushstrokes and a tender approach to the figure.
UKIYO-E BLUES
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NEW BEDFORD FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY
MARCH 9, 2023 – JUNE 4, 2023
The term ukiyo-e (浮世絵) translates to "picture(s) of the floating world," referring to fleeting images of glamor, beauty and fashion. Ukiyo-e prints were popular in Edo (present-day Tokyo) among common folk and were a dynamic art form for more than 200 years. Mass produced, affordable and focused on favorite subjects such as beautiful women, Kabuki actors, and picturesque landscapes, these images offered an escape from everyday life.
Aizuri-e (藍摺り絵) or "blue printed picture" refers to woodblock prints which are entirely or predominantly blue in color; this subgenre of ukiyo-e works was associated with the popularization of Prussian blue in Japan. Prussian blue was brought to Japan by the Dutch in the 1820's, and this new synthetic pigment allowed for brighter shades that were less subject to fading than other naturally derived pigments like dayflower or indigo, although they were still used.
The ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Hiroshige frequently utilized bokashi (ぼかし), a method of pigment gradation, to create a range of color, often in areas of sky or water to add depth. Hiroshige is known for his virtuoso use of color and perspective in meisho-e (名所絵 pictures of famous places) and landscapes. While these prints contain too many colors to be considered aizuri-e, the areas of bright blue are striking, and the prominence of the color in Hiroshige’s work reflects a popular style of the period.
ART AS ACTION
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH UMASS DARTMOUTH
JANUARY 30, 2023 – MAY 6, 2023
This spring New Bedford Art Museum will be collaborating with Gabo Camnitzer’s Art as Action class at UMass Dartmouth. Participants will be investigating the city of New Bedford, looking at the political and economic forces shaping its social life. Students will explore socially-engaged artistic strategies that can be used to intervene in the city in ways that might make it more responsive to the needs and
desires of the people on the ground.
To this end, the People's Gallery at New Bedford Art Museum will serve as a hub of activity for the class to search, accumulate, and reflect on their work. The groups output will be visible to the public periodically throughout the semester, culminating in a final public event in early May, 2023.
For inquiries about the project please reach out to [email protected]
For inquiries about the Museum please reach out to Suzanne de Vegh [email protected]
SOUND IN SPACE, SOUND IN PLACE
APRIL 13, 2023 – JUNE 4, 2023
Sound in Space, Sound in Place, a survey of contemporary sound art, foregrounds sound and listening as powerful shapers of everyday experience and draws attention to sound’s unique properties as an artistic medium. The exhibition features a collaborative work by established sound artists John Driscoll and Phil Edelstein—the richly exploratory sound installation Cluster Fields (2018–2023)—as well as New Bedford Soundscape, a crowdsourced collection of audio recordings by New Bedford residents, Sonic Textures of Place, experimental sound works by UMass Dartmouth students in Professor Walker Downey’s Spring 2023 sound art seminar, NBWaves, an EP by Scapeghost, and Whirly Chorus by Tess Oldfield.
UPCOMING
