The Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery heralds its 2011 season with the opening of two photography exhibitions on Thursday, January 13, in Cohen Memorial Hall on the Peabody campus.
Wide Angle: Photography and Its Influence on Contemporary Art examines the dramatic impact of photography on contemporary art production through the pairing of work by photographers who employ a conventional use of the medium with artists who use photo-based techniques to realize their particular visions. Curated by Joseph Mella, Director of the Fine Arts Gallery, the exhibition features works of artists and photographers selected from the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery Collection, including, among others, Christiane Baumgartner, Paul Berger, Louise Bourgeois, Lucien Clergue, Paul d’Amato, Joaquim Gomis, Harmony Korine, Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith, Stephen Tourlentes, Andy Warhol, and Carrie Mae Weems. Highlighted in this exhibition are a number of recent acquisitions on view for the first time, including works by Donna Ferrato, Roni Horn, Erica Lennard, Caleb Cain Marcus, and Gerhard Richter.
Bestia contra Bestia/Beast vs. Beast, an exhibition of recent photographs by the Spanish painter, sculptor, and scenic designer José Luis Raymond, is presented in conjunction with Wide Angle. Raymond explores the human capacity for violence, examining today’s violence as a reflection of the domestic, institutional, and social violence of seventeenth-century Spain’s Golden Age. Informed by Caravaggio’s use of dramatic lighting and Raymond’s own history in the theater, his photographs are striking in their portrayal of the timelessness of violence and our need to recognize its sources as a means of understanding ourselves.
The opening reception on Thursday, January 13, will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Fine Arts Gallery. The exhibitions will remain on view until February 27 and are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday; noon to 8:00 p.m., Thursday; and 1 to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.
Vanderbilt HART Doctors 