Big Bang! Abstract Painting for the 21st Century

Joyce and Edward Linde Gallery, James and Audrey Foster Galleries, Fourth Floor Hallway Gallery, Grand Staircase, First and Third Floor Lobbies

January 20 – April 22, 2007 (opening reception Friday, January 26 from 6 - 9 pm)

By the end of the last millennium, the art of abstract painting had been almost universally dismissed as irrelevant at best, and expired at worst. But now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, abstract painting is back with a bang – a Big Bang ! This term, cosmologically speaking, refers to the moment approximately 13.7 billion years ago that our universe explosively emerged from an unimaginably hot and dense point. Used here metaphorically, Big Bang! describes the current aesthetic explosion in which a new generation of artists is reinvigorating abstraction with paintings formally and conceptually relevant to many of the great intellectual concerns of this new century.

DeCordova Museum ’s upcoming exhibition Big Bang ! A=bstract Painting for the 21 st Century , heralds the revitalization of non-objective painting for a new century. This thematic group exhibition features works by artists whose imagery is informed by contemporary issues such as computer technology, cosmology, quantum physics, information theory, genetics, complexity theory, remote sensing, and other sets of current scientific visual languages. The paintings in Big Bang ! surge with energy, explode with color, and immerse viewers in parallel universes of stunning visual experience and sheer imagination. And despite the insistent references to science and the digital world, each artwork is completely painted by hand, bringing together cutting-edge and age-old visual technologies.

Big Bang! brings together fifteen artists who reside in the Northeast (mostly New England ). They have created post-Postmodern paintings, visually complex and compelling, grounded in ideas that transcend art making and the art world to encompass everything: the universe, the mind, the sciences, the imagination, and the structures that connect them all. In Big Bang!, scale is unmoored. As the artists explore the very huge and the very tiny – often simultaneously – galactic and subatomic worlds oscillate. Paintings range widely in size, often within the oeuvre of a single artist. In this exhibition, seven-inch square paintings appear in proximity to canvases over ten feet wide. In other works, artists blast off from the painting itself to spread imagery across the surrounding walls, in installations that include painted three-dimensional objects.

The featured artists in Big Bang! are:

Peter Barrett
Thaddeus Beal
Steven Bogart
Sean Foley
Reese Inman
Clint Jukkala
Julie Miller
Meg Brown Payson
Jon Petro
Cristi Rinklin
Terry Rose
Sarah Slavick
Laurel Sparks
Barbara Takenaga
Sarah Walker

Big Bang! is organized by Curator Nick Capasso and Lisa Sutcliffe, Mary Levin and William Koch Curatorial Fellow, and will be accompanied by a catalogue with an essay and full-color reproductions.

DeCordova Museum is proud to be a part of the 2007 Boston Cyberarts Festival with Big Bang: Abstract Painting for the 21st Century. The Festival runs April 20 - May 6, 2007 . Please visit www.bostoncyberarts.org for more information.

Programming in conjunction with the Big Bang! exhibit

Gallery Talks: Meet the Artists
Third Floor Lobby
Selected Saturdays at 3 pm
Free with Campus admission

The act of creating artwork can be just as exciting as looking at the final product. Meet New England and regional artists to discuss their work on view at DeCordova.

Big Bang! Gallery Talks:
February 10: Reese Inman
February 24: Cristi Rinklin
March 3: Terry Rose
April 21: Thaddeus Beal

Eye Wonder Family Program
Museum Galleries
Selected Sundays, drop-in from 1 – 3 pm
Free with Campus admission

Come to DeCordova with friends and family to discover an ever-changing world of art! Eye Wonder focuses on “seeing” and “doing” in art museums and combines careful looking with creative art projects centered on DeCordova’s changing exhibitions. Eye Wonder celebrates the uniqueness of contemporary artists and their processes with family-friendly guided tours and hands-on art activities. This drop-in program is perfect for families with children ages 6 and up. The following Eye Wonder programs focus on the Big Bang! exhibition with the following Guest Artists:

January 21: Sarah Slavik
February 25: Julie Miller
March 25: Steven Bogart
April 22: Julie Miller

Lectures and Classes
Museum Galleries and DeCordova Museum School Studios

Why Abstraction is Hot
Thursday, February 15, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm

Curator Nick Capasso will provide an intimate, behind-the-scenes view of the exhibition Big Bang! and will discuss new movements in abstract painting. $15 for DeCordova Members; $20 for Non-Members. Fee includes lunch from The Café @ DeCordova. Space is limited, call 781/259-3632 or email sdiachisin@decordova.org for reservations.

DeCordova Museum School is offering new courses related to the Big Bang! exhibit, including:

Abstract Drawing and Painting for children grades 5 – 8
(Wed, 3:30 – 5:30 pm , Jan 17 – Mar 7)

Color & Design
(Wed, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm, Jan 24 - Apr 4)

More Why Is This Art?
(Tue, 6:30 - 8:30 pm, Feb 13 - Mar 13)

Finding the Abstract in the Natural World
(Fri, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm , Mar 2 – 23)

Abstraction in the 21 st Century
(Sat, 1 – 4 pm , Jan 27 – Mar 31)

To register for these classes click here or call 781/259-0505.

For a complete listing of DeCordova’s programs and activities, click here.