English translation:
Hudson Valley Artists 2022: The Material, The Thing
By Elisa Pritzker
July 2022
I am pleased to present to you the new edition of Hudson Valley Artists held annually by the Dorsky Museum located on the SUNY New Paltz campus. This show called “The Material, The Thing” is in the museum's Alice and Horace Chandler Gallery & North Gallery. Opening June 6, this exhibit remains open to the public for free through November 6, 2022, and is a great opportunity to immerse yourself in works by Hudson Valley artists. It was curated by Nicole Hays.
The Dorsky Museum explains about the theme of this 2022 show: “The Material, The Thing, the 15th annual Hudson Valley artists exhibition considers how artists understand and re-imagine the material culture in which we live. Every time we walk into a big box store, we are inundated with pointless throwaway stuff. Collectively we have lost understanding of the materials that make up the things we live with.
Who knows how plywood is made, or what microcrystalline cellulose is, but we all have it in our homes. In this cultural moment, artists and artisans become an essential conduit for understanding materials and things in our society.
Artists and artisans presented works that investigate materials and their physical and cultural properties. We seek to see artistic practices that consider the inherent beauty of physical materials and work that questions or defends the things produced by our culture.”
Participating artists are
Miguel Braceli, Louis Brawley, Royal Brown Jr., Sydney Cash, Adam Chau, Monica Church, Melissa Dadourian, Shoshana Dentz, Dan Devine, Adriana Farmiga, Daniel Giordano, Romina Gonzales, Meg Hitchcock, Laetitia Hussain, Will Hutnick, Niki Lederer, Elisa Lendvay, Ashley Lyon, Patricia Miranda, Joel Olzak, Courtney Puckett, Jordan Rosenow, Julie Torres, Katharine Umsted, Melissa Weaver, and Millicent Young.
I asked Daniel Giordano, one of the participants in this show, how important it is to him that the Dorsky Museum present an exhibition of artists from the Hudson Valley. Daniel stated that:
“The Dorsky's annual Hudson Valley Artists exhibition champions artists who live in the region and provides us with an institutional platform where our work is viewed by guest curators and other industry professionals. It offers selected artists a formal environment to gain exposure and the opportunity to meet other creators. I see the annual Dorsky Hudson Valley Artists exhibition as comparable to what the PS1 MoMA Greater New York exhibition offers to artists residing in New York City; showcases a breadth of talent across the region under one roof.”
Daniel explained to me in depth about the work he has in this exhibition:
“I am delighted to have an object on display as a Newburgh native. The wall-mounted sculpture selected by guest curator Nicole Hayes reflects my output, which is often derived from a multitude of materials, both found and made, unified into a conglomerated mass and smeared with characteristic surface treatments. In this work, I rolled and shaped clay by hand to resemble a Cannoli shell and fired it as the main component and then expanded it. I love cattails and setting things on fire, hence the use of spent flares. Peat from Ireland's Burren, tennis racket string, dog ticks, Murano glass, Tang drink mix, and sewing machine hardware sourced from my family's old garment factory converge in this work that is collectively symbolic of my Newburgh, New York.
Cannoli (Goran's grip) is part of a series of works called Cannoli. I draw inspiration from what is familiar to me. Cannolis were often the dessert of choice at family gatherings. My cannoli sculptures immortalize memories associated with family tradition, and like my Italian-American ancestors, I do it my way. The Grip of Goran refers to Goran Ivanišević, a Croatian professional tennis player who competed in the 1990s. I was always mesmerized by his extreme service grip. His pointer finger was almost straight along the racket handle. I used to compete in tennis tournaments internationally and often incorporate my old tennis equipment into my work. I am grateful to this year's guest curator, Nicole Hayes, as well as Karlyn Benson, Anna Conlan, and Bob Wagner and the entire staff of the Dorsky Museum for including my work in this exhibition."
For her part, Patricia Miranda, another of the exhibiting artists, said that: “An academic museum is an institution of learning, and the representation of its local community is essential for a healthy artistic ecosystem in the area. This connects the university community with its regional artists and arts community, rooting the student experience in a deep sense of culture and place.”
I think this year's theme, ““The Material, The Thing” [El material, la cosa] is extremely contemporary since we live daily with countless materials of all kinds. What is interesting about this show is that the public comes into contact with each artist's vision of how to creatively use and transform what surrounds us.
For more information about the Dorsky Museum, you can visit the website: newpaltz.edu/museum/
*Elisa Pritzker is a renowned Argentine-American visual artist, independent curator, and columnist. His catalogs of Art called Selk'nam are available on Amazon, both in English and Spanish. Questions and/or comments contact her through her website: elisapritzker.com
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