CMCA will open ‘Because the Sky is Blue’ Oct. 2

The Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland will open “Because the Sky is Blue,” an exhibition examining critical histories of painting and the status of painting as a critical practice today, on Oct. 2.

Organized by CMCA curator Grant Wahlquist, the exhibition brings together works by artists associated with Maine and voices from outside the region, including Clémentine Adou, Wilfrid Almendra, Bo Bartlett, Vija Celmins, Selena Kimball, Ryosuke Kumakura, Glenn Ligon, Sharon Lockhart, Matthew Metzger, Julie Poitras Santos and Miao Wang. It will remain on view through Jan. 17. An opening reception will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Oct. 2.

“This is an exhibition of paintings that do many things at once,” Wahlquist said. “Many of them are monochromes, or at least they seem to be at first. Look closer, and these paintings may tell you they are also many other things: skyscapes, windows, screens.”

The exhibition takes painter Bo Bartlett’s “Blue Sky Paintings,” begun after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, as a catalyst. Generally painted in a single day while looking in one direction, the works appear from a distance to be monochromes or color field paintings but reveal themselves on closer inspection as attempts to accurately portray the color and conditions of the sky. Their gold-leafed frames recall windows and the art historical tradition of trompe l’œil.

In CMCA’s largest gallery, Bartlett’s paintings will appear alongside works on canvas by Sharon Lockhart that hover between photography and painting. Lockhart used the early photographic process of cyanotype to create works in which hours of diffuse sunlight produce an intense experience of darkness.

Three “Black Screens” by Clémentine Adou repurpose flat-screen TV cardboard packaging through repeated applications of black-tinted varnish, nearly erasing the landscapes, portraits and other images advertising the products inside. Miao Wang will present a new installation of multiple sheets of synthetic paper built through repeated applications of thin washes of pigment, reflecting the ways time marks memory and the body.

At the center of the gallery will be a new installation by Wilfrid Almendra composed of cathedral glass, dried flowers and other materials, accompanied by additional sculptures exploring everyday objects, vernacular architecture and the dream of working-class comfort. The installation received support from an Etant donnés award, a program of Albertine Foundation and Villa Albertine.

CMCA’s Bruce Brown Gallery will feature three paintings by Matthew Metzger, including two from his “On Holiday” series, which considers the politics of “covering” in music and painting through images of gardenia blossoms associated with Billie Holiday. A new work from Glenn Ligon’s “Blue (for JB)” series builds on his paintings using excerpts from James Baldwin’s essay “Stranger in the Village” and his longstanding interest in citation, legibility and abstraction.

Selena Kimball will present an installation from her ongoing “Atlas of Air,” a series of collages using the “empty” spaces of air and sky in New York Times cover images, often depicting drought, fire and other catastrophes. The sky also appears in three mezzotints of the night sky by Vija Celmins and two “Night Windows” by Ryosuke Kumakura.

CMCA’s Guy D. Hughes Gallery will feature Lockhart’s film “EVENTIDE,” a meditative single-shot work filmed on the coast of Gotland, Sweden. Six people gradually enter the frame, searching the shoreline with handheld lights as early evening turns to night. Filmed during the Perseid meteor shower, the work captures emerging stars and occasional satellites crossing the sky.

The film will be accompanied by a site-specific mural in CMCA’s Marilyn Moss Rockefeller Lobby by Julie Poitras Santos, drawn from a larger poetic text reflecting on the loss of a beloved mentor.

“This is an exhibition about the state of contemporary painting and the status of painting as a critical and conceptual practice,” Wahlquist said. “It is also an exhibition about something older than art itself: the sky.”

An illustrated publication featuring a contribution by Patricia Hickson will accompany the exhibition. Public programming organized by Wahlquist and CMCA director of education Rori Smith will include artist talks and workshops for children and adults, as well as related screenings presented with Rockland’s Strand Theatre. Dates will be announced later.

“Because the Sky is Blue” is supported by the Roxanne Quimby Foundation, the Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, Harriet F. Hubbard, donors to CMCA’s Suzette McAvoy Exhibition Fund and Etant donnés, a program of Albertine Foundation and Villa Albertine. The exhibition catalogue is supported by the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation.

CMCA is at 21 Winter St., Rockland. Through Oct. 31, hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Beginning Nov. 1, hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10, $8 for seniors 65 and older and students with ID, and free for children under 18 and CMCA members. For more information, go to cmcanow.org.