Campus Update

(July 2, 2007)

New Contemporary Exhibition Opens July 12

The work of two influential contemporary artists, Judith Linhares and James Siena, will be featured in a new exhibition opening July 12 at the University Art Museum.

The museum, open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday during the summer, will feature on its first floor 10 never-before shown drawings by James Siena, along with his recent work.

The large-scale drawings were made 11 years ago to accompany Pockets of Wheat, a selection of short poems by Geoffrey Young. They were bought soon after the book's publication in 1996, by collector A.G. Rosen, and have not been shown before.

On the second floor will be 14 paintings by Judith Linhares which carry her signature brush strokes, lush colors, and dream-like narrative style.

Both exhibitions are guest curated by Young, a poet, critic, and founder of Geoffrey Young Gallery in Great Barrington, Mass.

The artists and curator will be on hand for an opening reception Thursday, July 12, from 5 to 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibition closes Sept. 30.

While markedly different in their approaches to painting, both Linhares and Siena are considered pioneers in their respective genres: figuration and abstraction. Linhares is known as a painterly painter whose deliberately crude style has inspired a generation of younger figurative artists. Siena is among today's brightest abstract painters. His contained and absorbing modest-sized works offer a pointed response to the expansive nature of Abstract Expressionism.