East meets West as two acclaimed painters from opposite corners of the world showcase their work starting this week at West Virginia University .
The paintings of Glenn Goldberg of New York and Naijun Zhang, a Chinese native who is coordinator of the painting program in WVU s College of Creative Arts , will be on display Thursday, Sept. 4, through Oct. 9 in the Mesaros Galleries at the Creative Arts Center .
Goldberg will present a visiting artist lecture at 5 p.m. Thursday in the CAC s Bloch Learning and Performance Hall (200A). The opening reception for the exhibitions will follow at 6 p.m. in the galleries.
Goldberg, whoseSecret Placeexhibition will be on view in the Laura Mesaros Gallery, creates richly patterned abstract paintings made with delicate brush strokes and flecks of color. He draws inspiration from the natural world, but does not paint what he sees. Instead, his paintings seem to be a hybrid of microscopic cellular forms, mandalas and Amish quilts.
Goldberg was born in the Bronx, studied at the New York Studio School and obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree from Queens College.
He was named the 1996 Heilman Artist and has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation and the Edward Albee Foundation. His work is held in numerous collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
Selected solo exhibitions include Cynthia Broan, New York City; Art for Humans Gallery, Los Angeles; Phillip Slein Gallery, St. Louis; Charles Cowles Gallery, New York City; Hill Gallery, Birmingham, Mich.; Knoedler&Co., New York City; Grand Arts, Kansas City; and Willard Gallery, New York City.
Goldbergs paintings contribute to a long, ongoing dialogue in modern art,Kristina Olson, WVU assistant professor of art history, writes in her catalog essay that accompanies the exhibition.His seemingly simplistic format of a white ground with repeated motifs of flowering trees and birds, painted with stippled dots of pure color, belies a more conceptual project. There is nothing simple about these paintings.
Zhangs exhibition,The Demonstrator,will be on view in the Paul Mesaros Gallery, and Zhang will present a visiting artist lecture about his work at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, in Bloch Hall.
Born in China, Zhang earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in oil painting from Nanjing Arts Institute in 1988 and a Master of Fine Arts in painting from WVU in 2000.
He has had solo shows at OK Harris Works of Art in New York and Michael Berger Gallery in Pittsburgh. He has also been included in numerous group exhibitions in the United States and China.
Zhangs work has been reviewed in Art Papers Magazine, and he has completed portrait commissions from the U.S. District Court. Recently he was selected as one of the 2008 National Juried Competition finalists.
Zhang joined the painting faculty at WVU in 1999. He has established faculty-led study abroad courses in China and offered painting study and travel programs in China.
My recent paintings consist of a study of scenes peopled by ordinary Chinese types engaged in everyday activities,he said.My experience growing up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution is visually expressed in these paintings.
Managed by curator Robert Bridges and the WVU Division of Art, the Mesaros Galleries offer a diverse schedule of exhibitions throughout the year. The galleries are committed to showing experimental art and play host to renowned contemporary artists who work in all media. All Mesaros Galleries events are free and open to the public.
Gallery hours are noon-9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The galleries are closed Sundays and University holidays. Special individual or group viewing times may be arranged upon request.
For more information, contact Bridges at 304-293-4841 ext. 3210.