UMaine Museum of Art announces Summer Exhibitions

The University of Maine Museum of Art, located at 40 Harlow Street in downtown Bangor, opens three new featured exhibitions. UMMA is open Tuesday – Saturday from 10am – 5pm and brings modern and contemporary art exhibitions to the region, presenting approximately 12 original exhibitions each year. UMMA’s summer exhibitions open to the public on May 19 and run through September 2, 2017. Museum admission is free thanks to the generosity of Deighan Wealth Advisors.

JASON BARD YARMOSKY: SOMEWHERE
May 19 – September 2, 2017

Somewhere, a series of paintings, drawings and video by Brooklyn, NY-based artist Jason Bard Yarmosky, explores issues of aging and specifically, dementia and Alzheimer’s. A longtime subject of Yarmosky’s paintings is his grandmother who has played an integral role in the evolution of these works. Depicted with realistic precision, she travels through these compositions wearing assorted costumes and masks imbued with symbolism. Every feature, from wrinkles of skin to the folds of varied fabrics, is meticulously rendered. The artist states, “These large-scale portraits study expressions of dementia, confronting the viewer with psychological vulnerability. They respond to the loss of control and the subconscious mind, speaking to a dream-like state–a place intangible to those not experiencing it.”

A focal point of the exhibition is Wintered Fields, a large-scale triptych measuring six by twelve feet, that depicts the artist’s grandmother donning superhero attire. The uncanny juxtaposition of the elderly subject, who seems to be superimposed against a background of a gesturally-rendered, snow-covered field, creates an unsettling psychological tension. Also featured are several graphite drawings–some studies for larger works–that reflect the artist’s keen ability to capture the figure with striking clarity and sensitivity.

Exhibition Sponsors:
St. Joseph Healthcare/St. Joseph Hospital

The Jason Bard Yarmosky exhibition at UMMA is supported in part by a grant from the Cultural Affairs/Distinguished Lecture Series Fund.

SUSAN BARNETT: I WEAR WHAT I WANT
Curated by George Kinghorn
May 19 – September 2, 2017

I Wear What I Want features over 100 images by NYC-based photographer Susan Barnett. The exhibition, composed of color photographs from Barnett’s Not In Your Face series, explores how the messages and graphics we choose to wear on t-shirts provide a window into our sense of style, personal philosophies and values. Barnett states that her subjects are “human billboards that advertise purposes in life, philosophies that drive us, ideologies we attest to. They are calls for action, they are calls home, they might be to honor a fallen hero, the death of a celebrity. They are the soundtrack of a city, a visual newspaper.”

The photographer traveled the U.S. and abroad to capture intriguing individuals wearing an array of styles and catchy phrases that range from raunchy text to campy cartoon imagery. Not only vehicles of personal expression, these t-shirts exhibit messages that illustrate the complex polarities of thought currently existing within the nation. Many of the screen-printed shirts pictured in Barnett’s images are emblazoned with in-your-face language that convey a spectrum of beliefs; issues of race, unyielding politics, and religion are prominently featured in these collected images. Barnett’s subjects, bodies of all shapes, ages and sizes, are pictured from behind. The messages and graphics embraced by these individuals include celebrity idolization, sexual braggadocio, rebellious pronouncements and even nods to artistic masterpieces.

LEE CUMMINGS: WHAT LIES BENEATH

May 19 – September 2, 2017

In What Lies Beneath, Maine-based artist Lee Cummings creates an immersive, exuberant ceramic environment. The central installation, composed of over 300 individually sculpted forms, is inspired by an array of marine species. The stark white porcelain elements, ranging from one inch to three feet, take the form of urchins, tube worms, coral and other sea dwellers. The collective grouping of sculptures invite both macro and micro views of what lies beneath the ocean’s surface.

For the artist, the sheer quantity of unique, wondrous forms brought together reflect a “sea that is about abundance wherever life can get a foothold.” Cummings invites the viewer to contemplate the wonders of the natural world filtered through a process of creative spontaneity. Adding to the experience is the interplay of shadows created by the diverse undulating forms that inhabit floor and wall.

For more information contact: 

Kathryn Jovanelli
kathrynj@maine.edu
207.581.3370