Trinity with Saint Catherine and a Bishop Saint , German (northern), ca. 1500
Luigi Ontani, Salomè Salamè, 1990.
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Sculpture & Memory:
Works from the Gardner and by Luigi Ontani
February 9 – May 6, 2007
This exhibition contrasts European religious sculpture collected by Isabella Gardner with the work of contemporary Artist-in-Residence Luigi Ontani.
Both Ontani and Gardner used devotional imagery in personal ways. Ontani uses his face and body to play with shifting identities and to invent new fables; Gardner created new sacred spaces of private meaning in her museum. |
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Image detail from Stefano Arienti, The Asian Shore |
Stefano Arienti: The Asian Shore
June 29 – October 14, 2007
The Asian Shore is a contemplative exhibition by Stefano Arienti inspired by Isabella Gardner’s Asian collection and archival images and presented in a meditative, zen-like space filled with art inspired by Eastern culture and spirituality.
The work brings together new drawings traced from digital archival images and photocopies of 17 th- and 18 th-century Asian Buddhas and a range of rugs dyed by the artist, along with a set of rarely viewed XVII century Japanese sliding doors (fusuma) from the Gardner collection. The works reveal images and patterns that have been lost or hidden over time, much like relics from the past washed up on a distant Asian shore.
Arienti positions these objects and drawings in a way to involve the viewer in an intimate and sensual encounter with art. Guests will be invited to enter the gallery and to take off their shoes and sit on the rugs in contemplation. The exhibition is a result of an autonomous investigation by the artist into the museum’s Asian collection and archives. |
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Image: Still frame from Empyrean, 2007. |
Cliff Evans: Empyrean
November 9, 2007 – January 13, 2008
“Apocalypse Wow!: A thrilling, seductive, action-packed romp.” Full article
– The Boston Phoenix
Cliff Evans: Empyrean is a new animated video projection that turns a critical eye on contemporary American culture and society and challenges the viewer to confront issues of power, politics, militarism, consumerism, and celebrity. Mining and manipulating images from the Internet, Evans creates a large-scale five-channel animated collage that fuses contemporary online advertising with the complexity and scale of historic religious paintings. Infused with his wry sense of humor and a keen eye for color and juxtaposition, Empyrean is as engaging as it is disquieting.
Based in Brooklyn, New York, Cliff Evans is a recent graduate and new faculty member of Boston’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and was an Artist-in-Residence at the Gardner Museum in 2006. Empyrean is Evans’s first solo museum exhibition. |
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