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Conley Harris, Bright Crimsom Skies, 2006-7
oil on canvas, 56" x 56", courtesy of the artist
and Victoria Munroe Fine Art, Boston
September 6 – October 22, 2008
Reception: Friday, September 5, 5-7 p.m.
Conley Harris, a Boston artist and former University of New Hampshire art faculty member, has long been known for his lush paintings of the landscape. The twenty works in this exhibition reveal the artist's interest in Persian and Indian miniatures.
Theatrical sensibility provides Harris's works with an intensity and power that transcend time and place. Using the lively color and dramatic staging of Hindu court narrative as a springboard, he gives voice to his own passion for a lush, imagined landscape. By incorporating the conventional poses and gestures of Hindu deities and dancers into this exploration of landscape, the formal gardens of the distant past are animated-bringing them into the present for our consideration.
Beginning his career as chief scene painter for the Santa Fe Opera Company during the 1970s, Harris is a former faculty member of the Department of Art and Art History at UNH. He is well-known for his lyrical landscapes of New England and the American West. Upon traveling to the Japan and India, he began collecting antique Rajput, Pahari, and Mughal drawings used as preparatory studies for miniature paintings which he used as a source of inspiration. His drawings from the 17 th - and 18-th century courts and kingdoms of the Indian sub-continent now serve as a source of inspiration for his paintings and drawings. Writing about his work, Harris has stated: "In these fantastical landscapes, I have altered, enlarged, and restaged details from favorite miniatures. A playful energy gathers as figures spring into action-whether it be dancing late into the night, archers pursuing their daring ambitions, or horsemen exploring the rolling landscape. These figures are personal to me, drawn from the past and now part of an imagined world that I find compelling."
Conley Harris: Lyrical Tableaux was organized and circulated by the Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, Mass. Following its showing at the Museum of Art, UNH, Durham, New Hampshire, it will travel to the University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery in Knoxville, TN (November 21 - December 19, 2008).
For a copy of the news release for Conley Harris: Lyrical Tableaux click here.
Craig Hood, Chiminea, 2008, oil on canvas 40" x 54"
Art Faculty Review: Benjamin Cariens, Brian Chu, Craig Hood, and Maryse Searls McConnell
September 6 – October 22, 2008
Reception: Friday, September 5, 5-7 p.m.
Each year the Museum of Art highlights work by the studio art faculty members in the Department of Art and Art History who are new or returning from sabbatical leave. This exhibition features recent work by Benjamin Cariens (sculpture), Brian Chu (painting), Craig Hood (painting and drawing), and Maryse Searls McConnell (sculpture and drawing).
An associate professor of drawing and painting at UNH, Brian Chu is a graduate of Queens College (B.F.A., 1971; M.F.A., 1973). His paintings focus on differences found in color, surface, light, and space. As a result of his exploring these differences, his images become understated references, rather than realistic representation of his subjects.
Craig Hood is a graduate of Boston University (B.A., 1975), Pennsylvania State University (B.A., 1979), and Indiana University (M.F.A., 1981). A professor of painting and drawing at UNH since 1981, Hood's work examines the role of the human figure as a narrative image within a fragmented landscape.
Maryse Searls McConnell, a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art (B.F.A., 1971) and Alfred University (M.F.A., 1973), has served as an associate professor of art at UNH since 1973. Her works showcase the dichotomy of the creative process she employs-in her work in clay, she intuitively builds complex, non-representational studies and reliefs, while in her abstract drawings, she develops dream-like content and symbolism from man-made and natural images.
For a copy of the news release for Art Faculty Review: Benjamin Cariens, Brian Chu, Craig Hood, and Maryse Searls McConnell click here.
Exhibitions and programs are supported in part by the Friends of the Museum of Art.