Three Exhibitions Will Open At The Neuberger In January

PURCHASE, N.Y.

: The Neuberger Museum of Art will open three new shows in January, at Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road. The museum also announces that the exhibition of Jim Dine's drawings will continue through January 8. This exhibition includes many works on paper from the artist's collection and the collection of Arnie Glimcher. Large-scale and typical full-sheet drawings are featured.

The show opening January 15, "Facing Abstraction: Refiguring the Body in the Twentieth Century," looks at figurative art from the Twentieth Century, which has often been measured in relation to the development of abstraction. By the 1950s, Abstract Expressionist painters viewed the idea of three-dimensional representation on a two-dimensional surface as suspect, questioning the relevance of representational imagery at all. "Facing Abstraction" traces an alternate art history, one in which faces and figures, although abstracted and distorted (and even sometimes barely recognizable) remained essential.

The exhibition includes paintings, prints and sculptures by Alexander Archipenko, Georges Braques, Jean Dubuffet, Alberto Giacometti, Matta, Amadeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Larry Rivers, Mark Rothko, Rufino Tamayo and Antoni Tapies. All works come from the Neuberger Museum of Art's permanent collection.

Curated by Tracy Fitzpatrick, Neuberger museum adjunct curator and Purchase College assistant professor of art history, the show will be on view through July 16.

On January 29 the exhibition "Sharon Louden: Character" will open with five new works by Louden, and also paintings, drawings, serigraphs and sculpture by an abstract artist who is known to observe nature in simple lines in motion. This is the artist's largest exhibition to date, and includes work from a new animation series. Noted for its "character," Louden's work exudes personality, integrity, spirit and charm; it also represents anthropomorphic individuals that, although abstract and formal, have humanlike characteristics in minimal states produced in simple lines and gestures. Through the illusion of movement and placement, Louden gives character to her gestures. Thirty works that have been created in the past eight years, will be on view.

Though her work is highly abstract and minimal, it has tremendous impact. "The question of how it is made arises time and time again, as does a vivid discussion of the many currents in the work," notes Dede Young, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Neuberger Museum of Art, and curator of the show. "Louden's lines project an attitude that can be enigmatic and often humorous, expressing a personal, internal dialogue that ranges in tone from serious and tense to surprising and entertaining. Her minimal expression has a maximal impact."

A full color catalog will include an essay by critic Lilly Wei and an interview with the artist by Young, examining Louden's process and concerns with "stretching" drawing. Louden's work will be on view through June 18.

Also opening on January 29, and scheduled to run through May 21, is "Dennis Oppenheim: The Assembly Line (with By-Products from a Mechanical Trance)." This amazing installation is part of Dennis Oppenheim's "Factory Series." The assembly line consists of large industrial fans that push air from a central, neon-lit stage through crossing ductwork to spinning turbines, blowing chimneys and a floating suite of translucent inflatable vessels. A swaying metronome arches above rocking tables, chutes, diffusers and ventilators. To Oppenheim, this industrial machinery embodies the urgency and orchestration of creative output.

"The assembly line, the processing system, the coupling of elements, emphasized my concern with the internal dynamics of thought processes, making physical the extra-visual forces that proceed art making, that form thoughts," he observed.

For information, 914-251-6100 or www.Neuberger.org.