The Center for Maine Contemporary Art recently announced that 35 artists have been selected to have their works featured in the 2023 CMCA Biennial exhibition, which will be installed across all 5,500 square feet of the museum’s galleries. The exhibition will be on view from Jan. 28 to May 7, 2023. The CMCA Biennial is the longest-running statewide juried exhibition in Maine and highlights the latest developments in contemporary art by Maine-based and connected artists.

The 35 artists (including two collaboratives) were selected from a total applicant pool of 423 artists by this year’s distinguished jurors — Misa Jeffereis, assistant curator at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and Sarah Montross, senior curator at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln. It is notable that the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is a fellow non-collecting museum of contemporary art.

THE CMCA 2023 BIENNIAL ARTISTS:

Rachel Adams (Portland)

Nick Benfy (New York City, N.Y.)

Philip Brou (South Portland)

Shane Charles (Bangor)

Shaina Gates (Kittery)

Elysse Grams (Portland)

Dylan Hausthor (Waterville)

Alanna Hernandez (Union)

Rebecca Hutchinson (Rochester, Mass.)

Jenny Ibsen (Portland)

Michael Kolster (Brunswick)

Jared Lank (Portland

Nathan Luce (Rockland)

Alex Lukas (Santa Barbara, Calif.)

Heather Lyon (Blue Hill)

Dafna Maimon and Ethan Hayes-Chute (Berlin, Germany)

Haley MacKeil (Providence, R.I.)

Mananda McPherson and Gigi Obrecht (Freeport)

Geoffrey Masland (Yarmouth)

Travis Morehead (Evanston, Ill.)

Madeleine Morlet (Rockport)

Pamela Moulton (North Bridgton)

Elaine NG (Hope)

Anna Queen (Rockland)

José Santiago Pérez (Chicago, Ill.)

James Ransome (Rhinebeck, N.Y.)

Mariah Reading (Bangor)

Lynn Richardson (Swanzey, N.H.)

Brian Smith (Portland)

Juliette Walker (Farmingdale)

Holden Willard (Portland)

Erin Woodbrey (South Orleans)

Evelyn Wong (Portland)

These artists underscore the broad network of talented artists who call Maine home or who have significant ties to a specific Maine community but currently reside elsewhere, ranging from California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Germany.

The museum-wide exhibition will showcase an exceptional variety of artworks created over the past two years that will span all artist media, including installation-based and commissioned artworks. The final selection of artworks and the curation of the 2023 CMCA Biennial will be overseen by CMCA’s curatorial team: executive director and chief curator Timothy Peterson and curatorial associate and exhibitions manager Rachel Romanski.

“CMCA’s Biennial continues to offer a rare, sweeping view into developments at the forefront of contemporary art, through the works of artists who are locally rooted and globally connected,” Peterson says.

CMCA’s juried Biennial dates back to 1978, making the 2023 CMCA Biennial the organization’s 23rd Biennial to-date. New this year, preference was given to artists who have not exhibited at CMCA over the past two years.

The opening reception for the 2023 CMCA Biennial will take place from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Jan. 28 at CMCA, 21 Winter St., Rockland. For more information, go to https://cmcanow.org.