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Past Exhibitions

Purvis Young Past Exhibition

Purvis Young: An Urban Visionary

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Art has an incredible power to transcend boundaries, capture emotions, and reflect the world we live in. It’s a medium that allows us to connect with the profound stories and unique perspectives of artists from all walks of life. One such artist, Purvis Young, stands out as a visionary of urban expression, and his work continues to captivate and inspire art enthusiasts worldwide. Purvis Young was born in 1943 in Liberty City, Florida. Raised in a community marked by urban challenges, Young’s life experiences played a pivotal role in shaping his artistic voice. With no formal training or art education, Young transformed the debris and discarded materials he found into breathtaking works of art. From wooden planks to discarded books and scrap cardboard, Young had an innate ability to see the potential in these overlooked items. This unique approach to art not only reflects his resourcefulness but also echoes a powerful message of renewal and resilience. Young’s art is a vivid reflection of the urban environment he called home. His works often depict scenes of urban life, capturing the vibrancy and struggles of his community. His paintings are teeming with people, animals, and objects, all of which tell a compelling […]

Past Exhibition

5th Annual High School Art Exhibition | Project Space

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AWARDS CEREMONY   Fri. April 26  |  6-7:30pm Students throughout the region submitted original works of art showcasing their creativity and artistic talent, and have an opportunity to compete for several distinguished awards for young artists. Westport Arts Center is pleased to announce the following 2019 awardees: Sontag Award Juror’s selection for best in show $500 prize Julia Cheung A Long Life 14 x 17 inches graphite on paper Joel Barlow High School (Redding) Grade 10 Jurists Keith Miller & Lauren Walsh (NYU Gallatin School), Amanda Innes (Westport Arts Center), artist Julia Cheung & teacher Michael Angelis (Joel Barlow High School), Michael Delgass (CEO of Sontag Advisors) Tracy Sugarman Award Juror’s Choice for best submission among Westport students $100 prize An illustrator, writer, civil rights activist and WWII veteran, Tracy Sugarman was an active member in the Westport community for over 60 years. He is best known for his painting and illustrations capturing the intensity of moments in American history from D-Day to the space shuttle. Mr. Sugarman passed away in January 2013 at the age of 91. This award is generously sponsored by the Honorable Alan and Janet Nevas in memory of this brilliant man. Learn more > Ben Roland […]

Past Exhibition

Fractured

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Spencer Platt Curated by Kenneth Baker On view January 11 – March 2, 2019 Opening Reception: January 11, 6-8PM Curated by world-renowned art critic Kenneth Baker, this first solo exhibition of award-winning photographer and Westport native Spencer Platt, presents the photojournalist’s work in a fine art space and context, allowing the viewer to question meaning, place and situation. Curatorial Statement This exhibition conducts an experiment: subjecting the work of photo-journalist, Spencer Platt to the pressures of presentation in a fine arts venue. News photos fulfill their purposes, frequently beyond the camera worker’s intentions or expectations, serving some editorial agenda to inform or illustrate, provoke response, or embed events in civic memory. Yet the photographic acts — reflexes responding to immediate circumstances, perhaps steered by an assignment — also have their own particular content and personal register. This selection of Platt’s work cross-sections all these dimensions. Visitors may recognize few of the subjects of these pictures — with one gut-clenching exception — but evidence of cruelty and gratuitous suffering, of human urgency and folly recurs in images made in widely disparate settings and times. Quieter, less inflammatory images help us see how much the power of Platt’s journalistic images owe to […]

Past Exhibition

Paradise

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On view September 14 – December 1, 2018 Curated by Todd von Ammon PARADISE embodies the Anthropocene, the proposed geological epoch wherein human activity is the dominant influence over the climate and the natural environment. Each artwork examines some aspect of how contemporary culture both influences and is influenced by the natural environment since the 1980s. This is a period of time, initiated by the Reagan and Thatcher administrations, when free market capitalism and the appetite for economic growth began to intensify across the developed world. The last 40 years has brought an incredible surge in tech innovation in conjunction with the serious acceleration of human-influenced climate change. Contemporary art has benefited from technological innovation, allowing artists to not only widen the aperture of what can be considered art, but to also make novel objects—thanks to new media—without historic precedent. The Anthropocene era has provided culture with many new apparatuses with which to represent the natural world, and PARADISE provides a few such examples. The title of the show comes from Dante’s Paradiso, an early tale of space travel. The narrator ascends into the heavens, while maintaining focus on the “pale blue dot” of planet earth. A clearer perspective of humanity’s purpose […]

Past Exhibition

SELECTS 2018

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SELECTS 2018 is the twelfth annual summer member artist exhibition at Westport Arts Center. The exhibition is on view June 22 – August 24, 2018. The exhibition is juried by Joe Amrhein and Susan Swenson of Pierogi Gallery (NYC), arguably known as one of the most prominent established galleries dedicated to emerging artists. Joe Amrhein is the co-owner/director of Pierogi Gallery (NYC) and The Boiler (Williamsburg, Brooklyn) and Susan Swenson is co-owner of Pierogi Gallery and co-founder and editor of Pierogi Press. Of their selections, the jurors stated, “Among the diverse works of the ten artists selected emerged two groups: one of a personal subjective nature and another directed towards intuitive abstraction. This involved a more eclectic and inclusive approach to our curation. We want to thank the artists and everyone involved in putting this exhibition together.” The jurors reviewed more than100 entries and selected the following ten artists for inclusion in SELECTS 2018: Bethany Brooke Alexandria Donovan Camille Eskell Jana Ireijo Susan Lloyd Mary Tooley Parker Margaret Roleke Susan Sharp Angela Strassheim Charlotte Strick The exhibition includes a wide diversity of themes and mediums including photography, painting, digital media, video, mixed media, ink and textile. Joe Amrhein is the […]

Past Exhibition

Handmade: Women Reshaping Contemporary Art

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The Westport Arts Center presented Handmade: Women Reshaping Contemporary Art from March 23 – June 2, 2018. The exhibition was curated by Elizabeth Gorayeb, Executive Director of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc., a non-profit art historical research foundation based in New York. For nearly two decades, Gorayeb has specialized in art historical research on the provenance and attribution of works of art. As the senior vice president and senior specialist in the Impressionist and Modern Art department at Sotheby’s and as director of research, Gorayeb led provenance research and restitution projects in London, Paris, and New York. Featured artists included Ghada Amer, Anna Betbeze, Ligia Bouton, Orly Cogan, Lesley Dill, Terri Friedman, Sermin Kardestuncer, Norma Minkowitz, Sophia Narrett, Faith Ringgold, Miriam Schapiro, Judith Scott, Beverly Semmes, Chiyoko Tanaka, Rosemarie Trockel, Margo Wolowiec, and Carolina Yrarrázaval. As visitors to a gallery or museum, we are expected to engage with works of art though the act of looking. We consider the final product of the artist’s creation, but rarely do we think of the tactile experience of the artist’s process. Fiber art — works of art created from wool, silk, cotton, flax and other forms of textiles — present us with a […]

Past Exhibition

Fourth Annual High School Student Art Exhibition

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In its fourth year, the exhibition (on view March 23 – June 2, 2018) was juried by esteemed art historian Elizabeth Gorayeb, Executive Director of the world-renowned Wildenstein Plattner Institute. She also served as the curator for the Arts Center’s Spring Exhibition, Handmade: Women Reshaping Contemporary Art. Staples High School senior Lilianna Giaume of Westport, CT was chosen as the recipient of the Tracy Sugarman Award for her oil painting, The Caw of Mutiny, an interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem The Raven. The Tracy Sugarman Award was given to the Juror’s Choice for best submission among Westport students. Staples High School sophomore Maise Prince of Westport, CT won the People’s Choice award for her charcoal on paper work, Fro, featuring a student in her art class. The public was invited to vote for their favorite work between March 23 and April 19. A third award, the Sontag Advisory “Best In Show” Award, was given to Lily Fine of Stamford.  The award included a $500 prize. Of the High School Student Art Exhibition, Gorayeb stated, “Over all, the works submitted for consideration evidence a sensitivity and patience that is not always attributed to this fast-paced generation. The fact that these students chose to represent […]

Past Exhibition

What Keeps Mankind Alive / The Last Library

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Ward Shelley’s What Keeps Mankind Alive featured a selected group of diagrammatic paintings that tease out narratives from history and culture. The paintings were presented within the context of The Last Library, an ongoing collaboration between Shelley and artist Douglas Paulson. The Last Library featured a room-sized installation of bookcases and 3,000 books that according to Shelley, “should have been written, but haven’t.” The exhibition was on view from December 1, 2017 – March 2, 2018.  The works were presented courtesy of the artists and Pierogi Gallery, NYC. Shelley makes paintings with information the way that historians make stories from facts. Previously on view at Pierogi Gallery, NYC, the exhibition began with the understanding that people depend on a collection of narratives to explain the world around them. Shelley explained, “These narratives are stories that weave together a series of facts, or assertions, so they make sense. Narratives create what is true for the believer, which are more germane to the believer’s life than facts.” Shelley considers his diagrammatic timelines as representations of these narratives. He continues, “Facts are like dots on a graph. The narrative is the curve that connects them, that gives isolated data points meaning, and gives meaning shape . . […]

Past Exhibition

Vivian Maier – A Lifetime of Photographs

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©Estate of Vivian Maier/Maloof Collection, Courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York. The Westport Arts Center presented Vivian Maier – a Lifetime of Photographs from September 15 to November 10, 2017. The exhibition featured over seventy color and black & white photos taken by the secretive nanny-photographer during her lifetime. The opening reception for the exhibition was held on Friday, September 15 from 6 – 8 p.m. Vivian Maier’s story has been pieced together only from the images she made and from the handful of facts that have surfaced about her life. For over five decades while she served as a nanny in Chicago and New York, she shot more than 100,000 images, which she kept hidden from the world. Maier captured both revealing self-portraits and casual, unposed images of people in urban America; she was interested in the fringes of society, and had special interest in the poor and the forgotten. In 2007, two years before Maier’s death, Chicago historic preservationist John Maloof discovered a trove of negatives and undeveloped film in a storage locker he bought at an auction. They revealed a surprising and accomplished artist and a stunning body of work, which Maloof championed and brought to worldwide […]

Past Exhibition

Third Annual High School Student Exhibition

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April 21 – June 30 Simultaneous with Main Street to Madison Avenue, the third annual High School Student Exhibition opened on April 21.  High School students throughout Fairfield County were invited to submit original works of art showcasing their creativity and artistic talent for the Exhibition. The exhibiting art work and award recipients were selected by distinguished artists Ann Chernow and Leonard Everett Fisher.  The Tracy Sugarman Award was given to 12th Grade Staples High School student Sophia Livecchi.  The Sontag Advisory “Best of Show” was awarded to rising tenth grade Fairfield Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet School student Elisha Brockenberry. The High School Student competition is sponsored by The Honorable Alan and Janet Nevas in memory of Tracy Sugarman. Selected high school artists include: Sara Adriani, 11th Grade, Joel Barlow High School, Easton Mariella Alderucci, 10th Grade, Staples High School, Westport Kayla Arias, 12th Grade, Academy of Information, Technology and Engineering, Stamford Sebastian Avila, 12th Grade, Staples High School, Westport Maggie Baron, 11th Grade, Academy of Information, Technology and Engineering, Stamford Elisha Brockenberry, 9th Grade, Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet School, Bridgeport Kyle Burton, 11th Grade, Hopkins School, Fairfield Aaliyah Celestin, 12th Grade, Academy of Information, Technology and Engineering, Stamford Jorge DeCruz, 9th Grade, Norwalk Housing […]

Past Exhibition

Main Street to Madison Avenue

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April 21 – June 23 Our celebration of the 1950s and 1960s continued with our Spring 2017 exhibition, Main Street to Madison Avenue. The exhibition highlighted many of the most significant illustrators, photographers and designers that lived and worked in Westport in the 50’s-70’s, and who left an indelible mark on contemporary art and culture through their creative art in advertising. The exhibition featured two bodies of work with radically different motivations: paintings, illustrations and photography commissioned by Madison Avenue advertising agencies for iconic commercial branding and advertising campaigns – many of which originated in Westport – alongside works from the well-known Pop Art and Contemporary artists who appropriated this advertising imagery. On view were original art and advertisements from renowned Westport illustrators such as Bernie Burroughs, Steven Dohanos and Bernie Fuchs, alongside works by contemporary artists, like  Andy Warhol, Walter Robinson and Jonathan Horowitz, who were directly influenced by the iconic design and aesthetic of that era.

Past Exhibition

More Than Words: As We Are

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An art collaboration led by artist Pamela Hovland with the broader community of Westport, the As We Are! full gallery installation presented a local perspective on identity and stereotype that people of all demographics encounter daily. Opening on Friday, January 27 at the Westport Arts Center, the exhibition featured portraits of students, community leaders, business professionals, artists, immigrants, religious figures, cultural influencers and elected officials who contributed personal material to express their individual views and experiences with labels and the power of words. Following the MORE Than Words fall series exploring the same themes, a postcard prompting a response to “I AM MORE THAN ___” was answered by more than 500 participants who contributed their declaration, often after considerable thought as to how they believe they are perceived. The community’s contributions both revealed and concealed personal identities that created insight, compassion, and a reevaluation of how we perceive and label ourselves and each other. The words were as varied as the people who participated. Among them, “I am more than … my grades … 
a housewife … my bank account … bi-polar … gay … Jewish … a twin … middle-aged … my pretty clothes … a mailman … a […]

Past Exhibition

MORE Than Words / #iammore

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The MORE Than Words/#iammore exhibition featured works created in support of the theme of the Arts Center’s previous exhibition MORE Than Words – courage, resilience and empowerment in the face of bullying – featuring pieces by some of the most important contemporary artists of our time. The MORE Than Words/#iammore exhibition was on view November 11, 2016 – January 7, 2017. The exhibition featured a diverse range of thought-provoking and conversation-starting works, including videos, three-dimensional works, paintings, drawings, photography, multi-media installations and more. Over 160 works were submitted for consideration, including entries by young artists ages 10-17 in a separate new Junior Category. Submissions came from Alabama, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York. Students affiliated with the Norwalk Housing were granted scholarships to participate, and their works are included in the exhibition as part of the Junior Category. Jurors for MORE Than Words/#iammore were Gerry Snyder, Dean of The Pratt Institute School of Art; Pamela Hovland, Designer and Senior Critic in Design, Yale University School of Art; and Ward Shelley, Sculptor and Performance Artist (Pierogi Gallery). To learn more and see list of exhibiting artists, please view our Press Release: MORE Than Words/#iammore Exhibition Showcasing Juried Community […]

Past Exhibition

More Than Words

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The Westport Arts Center’s fall 2016 exhibition and related community programming, was entitled MORE Than Words – courage, resilience and empowerment in the face of bullying. The MORE Than Words exhibition examined the topic of bullying within a broad cultural context that considers how perceived imbalances of social, physical, or political power can be abused to marginalize others.   MORE Than Words included artistic expressions of gender, racial, religious, geo-political, and age inequality, as well as works that served to demonstrate the impact of bullying and cyberbullying. Assembled together for the first time, this selection of thought-provoking art provided a platform to inspire dialogue and change. The range of work in the exhibition spanned decades, even centuries, reflecting historical examples and precedent for art utilized as a form of social activism.  Addressing the inherent imbalances, appropriation, and abuse of power associated with bullying, the exhibition covered the topics of racism in the early 20th century, the rise of gender equality and LGBTQ issues of the mid-century, to the current state of race relations and cyberbullying in the present day. Participating artists included Cory Arcangel, Andrea Bowers, Cary Leibowitz, John Currin, Theaster Gates, Leon Golub, Francisco Goya, Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Barbara […]

Past Exhibition

SOLOS 2016

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Juried by Douglas Hyland, Former Director of the New Britain Museum of American Art (NBMAA) in New Britain, CT, SOLOS 2016 was on view from June 24 – August 20, 2016.  SOLOS 2016 was generously sponsored by Cohen & Wolf, P.C. In its tenth year, SOLOS is a celebration of the artistic talent and diversity of the Arts Center’s artist members. Juror Douglas Hyland stated, “It is an honor to serve as the 2016 juror for the tenth annual SOLOS exhibition.  Over the last decade, a distinguished group of artists and jurors have participated, so that now SOLOS is both well-established and celebrated for its excellence.” The exhibition featured a diverse range of works, including paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures, and mixed media.  With entries from across the country, selected artists were from Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Selected artists included: Nina Bentley, Mixed Media Artist (Westport, CT) Cynthia Cooper, Painter (Farmington, CT) Larry Gordon, Painter (Larchmont, NY) Allan Gorman, Painter (West Orange, NJ) David Kalman, Photographer (Westport, CT) Daniel Lanzilotta, Sculptor (Westport, CT) Barbara Ringer, Photographer (Ridgefield, CT) David Sheskin, Printmaker (Bethel, CT) “Initially, I had envisioned more of a themed show, but the reality of the situation is that each of the selected artists demonstrates a distinct individuality.  Thus this exhibition celebrates a […]

Past Exhibition

Two Steps Forward: Contemporary Cuban Art

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Featured image above: Franklin Alvarez’s Shortcut II, watercolor on paper, 2015. Two Steps Forward: Contemporary Cuban Art was an exhibition featuring a diverse and compelling range of works by emerging and established Cuban artists, on display April 29 – June 4, 2016. Two Steps Forward: Contemporary Cuban Art included a significant collection of contemporary Cuban art from the private collection of Greenwich, Connecticut residents Terri and Steven Certilman. The Certilmans, who have sourced pieces directly from the artists during their travels to Cuba over the last decade, are dedicated to promoting the country’s artistic talent. Steven Certilman offered the following insight into the Cuban art world, “The unique political, social and economic conditions in Cuba have combined to catalyze what may be the world’s highest concentration of artistic talent. Their works are as diverse as the country’s rich cultural heritage. It is said that the eyes are the windows of the soul. Art is the window to the Cuban soul.” The painting and sculpture in the show, curated by Certilman and guest curator Arianne Faber Kolb, explored Cuban identity, its diverse cultural heritage, and the political climate and its resulting geographical isolation and emigration. The works are expressions of the soul, beauty, and fortitude […]

Past Exhibition

2nd Annual High School Student Exhibition

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The second annual high school student exhibition was on view March 18 – April 23. As part of the competition, Staples High School eleventh-grade student Sebastian Avila was chosen as the recipient of the 2016 Tracy Sugarman Award for his work “Dream On,” a charcoal and wax pastel drawing. The competition was generously sponsored by The Honorable Alan and Janet Nevas in memory of Tracy Sugarman. Sugarman was a 62-year Westport resident who was an illustrator, writer, civil rights activist and WWII veteran. He is best known for his painting and illustrations recording American history from D-Day to the space shuttle. Mr. Sugarman passed away in January 2013 at the age of 91. The competition was open to all students who reside and/or attend high school in Westport, providing an opportunity for students to share their creativity and talent with the community in a gallery setting. The works of art were juried by Ann Chernow, a Westport artist who is known for her portrait-style illustrations that evoke the images of female cinematic figures of the 1930s and 1940s. Her exhibition, NOIR, was simultaneously on display at the Westport Arts Center. Of the student entries, Chernow stated, “Congratulations to all for […]

Past Exhibition

NOIR

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The Westport Arts Center’s NOIR exhibition featured the works of renowned Westport artist Ann Chernow. The exhibition was on view March 18 – April 23. The exhibition included 43 paintings, drawings, lithographs, and etchings, some of which were completed in 2016 and were never before been seen by the public. Chernow is best known for her portrait-style illustrations that evoke the images of female cinematic figures of the 1930s and 1940s. Her childhood obsession with the movies of this time left a lasting impression on her.  Although her early works focused on leading ladies including Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Katherine Hepburn, most of her current works avoid specificity and instead portray universal women and situations. Chernow uses film clips, studio publicity material, fan magazines and other memorabilia as points of inspiration for her film noir-inspired works. “In blending past and present images I try to create a sense of deja-vu or nostalgia without the sentimentality of an association with a particular film star,” stated Chernow. The exhibition was curated by Helen Klisser During, the Westport Arts Center’s Artistic Director Emeritus. “Ann Chernow is both a Westport treasure and a nationally acclaimed artist; she is fully committed to continuously, obsessively, focusing on the fuzzy line between fact and fiction. […]

Past Exhibition

Enid Munroe: Artist & Alchemist

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The Enid Munroe: Artist & Alchemist exhibition was on view at the Westport Arts Center from January 22 through February 27, 2016. Enid Munroe has been a successful exhibiting artist for 50 years best known for her landscape paintings and portraits.  The Artist & Alchemist exhibition showcased Munroe’s works beyond her traditional domain of painting, many of which had never before been framed or seen by the public. “It is so exciting to see my mother honored in this way at the Westport Arts Center, in a community that has nurtured her for 60 years as an artist, teacher and advocate for the arts,” said daughter Alexandra Munroe, curator and scholar. “There is much that will be fresh and surprising to people,” said Munroe’s daughter, Victoria Munroe, who has owned and served as director of several prominent art galleries.  “My mom was a working professional artist whose work sold – she made the kind of art that people like to live with.  This exhibition will showcase her phenomenal technique within completely new bodies of work,” she added. Munroe and her four daughters, who are all also active in the art world, have lived and worked in Mexico, Japan and Italy.  […]

Past Exhibition

Eric Fischl; Photographs and Paintings

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The Westport Arts Center hosted an exhibition of photographs and paintings by the renowned artist Eric Fischl July 10 – September 15, 2015.  Fischl is considered one of the most influential figurative painters of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The showcased works were a unique aggregation of Fischl’s early photographs and paintings from 1982-2008, representing his distinct figurative style. Fischl was at the opening reception and signed copies of his memoir Bad Boy: My Life On and Off the Canvas (2013) written with Michael Stone.  The book is an exploration of Fischl’s coming of age as an artist, the competitive art world, and his creative process. Curated by Helen Klisser During, the Westport Arts Center’s Artistic Director Emeritus, the Eric Fischl Exhibition featured 30 photographs and paintings curated from both the Hall Collection and the Eric Fischl Studio. The exhibition provided a rare opportunity to see the works outside of these collections. Fischl is known for his provocative narratives about human behavior, particularly the hidden activities of middle-class America, and for making private moments public. His work is focused on people – their bodies – and the associated complex relationship we have with our physicality. “As I moved […]

Past Exhibition

Leonard Everett Fisher: A Retrospective

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The Westport Arts Center’s  “Leonard Everett Fisher: A Retrospective” exhibition featuring one of Westport’s most revered practicing artists ran from March 27 – April 25, 2015. The collection reflected Fisher’s ability to blur the lines between design, illustration and art, and reveals the long-lasting impact that Fisher has made in his lifetime.  The Westport Arts Center is grateful to all the supporting private and public institutions that made loans for the exhibition, including Cavalier Galleries, the New Britain Museum of American Art, and Michael Rosenfeld Gallery (NYC). Curated by Helen Klisser During, the Westport Arts Center’s Artistic Director Emeritus, this unique retrospective included 48 paintings, drawings, and illustrations from Fisher’s prolific 70-year career. The exhibition ranged from his earliest drawings to his latest works. Fisher, now age 92, comes from a family of four generations that shared an artistic flair, but is the first of his family to have become a professional “picture maker.”  He attributes his love for storytelling to his mother, who read him encyclopedia excerpts in elementary school.  His parents were supportive of his art and encouraged him to pursue painting and design; they gave him a “studio” in the front hall closet of their Bronx apartment […]

Past Exhibition

Edward Burtynsky: Nature Speaks

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On September 19, 2014, the Westport Arts Center opened Edward Burtynsky: Nature Speaks an exhibition that included large-format color photographs by world-renowned Canadian photographer, Edward Burtynsky, who has achieved international recognition for his photographs of industrial landscapes around the world. He has devoted over 30 years to photographing some of the world’s largest industrial operations—places outside our normal realm of experience, despite the fact that we contribute to their output on a daily basis. From capturing nickel tailings in Ontario to disintegrating shipbreaks in Bangladesh, Burtynsky documents how “nature itself, over time, can reclaim even the most ambitious of human incursions into the land.” The exhibition depicted Burtynsky’s striking images of the landscape in various degrees of disarray; some images showed natural materials being stripped from the earth while others showed nature overcoming the discarded objects that have been placed within it. Burtynsky’s imagery combines the raw elements of mining, quarrying, manufacturing, shipping, oil production, and recycling into exquisitely detailed, exactingly rendered, and unexpectedly sublime landscapes. By presenting sweeping views of areas where modern industrial activity has reshaped the surface of the land, he explores the complex relationship between industry and nature. Burtynsky said, “These images are meant as metaphors […]

Past Exhibition

Chuck Close: About Face

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The Westport Arts Center’s exhibition Chuck Close: About Face (Nov 2013 – Jan 2014) brought together the internationally renowned works of Chuck Close with local experiences of Westport residents in a singular and memorable exhibition. Previous Visual Arts Director Helen Klisser integrated together silkscreens, woodcuts, linocuts, etchings, relief prints, color Polaroids, and charcoal drawing from 5 different Connecticut and New York collections. The works featured the portraits of friends, family, and artists, including Lynda Benglis, Cecily Brown, Lyle Ashton Harris, Keith Hollingworth, Andrés Serrano, James Siena, Lorna Simpson, Kara Walker, and Joe Zucker, as well as composer Philip Glass, collector Agnes Gund, and Close’s first art dealer, Klaus Kertess. “These 38 exhibited works have been brought together for the first time from some of the most important art collections in the world. The works, which span four decades, offer the viewer a comprehensive bite-size look into the extraordinary oeuvre of one the most important contemporary artists of the 21st century,” said Klisser During. Work from New York galleries Pace Prints and Pace/MacGill were displayed alongside artwork from local collectors. Robert Elson, a Westport resident and friend and subject of Close’s in the 1970s and 80s, loaned 8 works, including a […]