Stepping Out

Fall's art scene

On view at area museums

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The season’s vibrance is reflected indoors as well as outside. Our local museums are energized for fall with a wide range of offerings that hold wide appeal for all. This weekend is a great time to check in with what’s going on at our museums nearby.

A look at the 1970s at Nassau County Museum of Art
Journey back to the decade of the Vietnam War, when life was grittier and the times were a changin’ in “Still Life: 1970s Photorealism,” Nassau County Museum of Art’s current exhibit, through Nov. 9.
The exhibit, which has arrived at NCMA from the Yale University Art Gallery, highlights the works of the acclaimed photorealist painters and sculptors who used photos as the basis for their works, in the process changing the scale and redefining the
images.
One of the major art movements of the early 1970s, Photorealism was an offshoot of Pop Art — inspired by the pre-eminent Pop Artists of the time, including Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Photorealists highlighted the pessimism of the decade, stemming from the Vietnam War, and recession-era struggles of many.
“I thought this exhibit was spectacular when I saw it two years ago at Yale,” says Karl Willers, the Nassau County Museum of Art’s director. “It’s an interesting time to be looking at these works. They are now being reevaluated and have renewed relevance.”
This survey shows how these artists have remained influential and demonstrates their impact on American art. “These artists are in a sense living masters,” says Willers. “Many are still producing extraordinary works. As we look back on these works they become more and more relevant.”
The exhibit features 38 works by Chuck Close, Audrey Flack, Ralph Goings, Duane Hanson, Malcolm Morley, Ben Schonzeit, and Idelle Weber. A favorite subject for them was the American landscape of the period, with its strip malls, highways and billboards. “There’s a lot of imagery of signage and street culture of the ‘70s,” says Willers.
According to Kathleen Chaffee, who curated the exhibit while at Yale, and is now curator at the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, “rather than taking on subject matter already made iconic through mass circulation, the photorealists selected photographs that were recognizable because they were banal — anyone could have taken the snapshots of buildings, objects, and people on which they based their paintings.”
Chafee argues that 1970’s photorealism perhaps has not gotten its due recognition, and is deserving of reappraisal. “The Photorealists captured an aspect of life in the 1970s that is both grittier and more melancholy than has previously been acknowledged,” she wrote in her curator’s statement.
The photorealists also painted in traditional styles of still life and portraiture, represented by Close’s print of “Keith/Mezzotint.”

A glimpse of Asia at Hofstra University
Asian art is on view at the Hofstra University Museum in two distinctive exhibitions at the Emily Lowe and David Filderman Galleries.
“Past Traditions/New Voices in Asian Art,” a multimedia exhibit, created exclusively for Hofstra University Museum’s Emily Lowe Gallery, focuses on contemporary Asian artists who mix or juxtapose traditional Asian subject matter and techniques with cutting-edge themes and artistic practices. View works on canvas, ceramics, prints, sculpture, and paper, along with a video installation.
Curated by Karen T. Albert, the Museum’s associate director of exhibitions and collections, “Past Traditions/New Voices” offers visitors a chance to explore dynamic works from nations such as China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. The focus is on contemporary Asian artists who mix or juxtapose traditional Asian subject matter and techniques with modern Western influences, including Xu Bing, Fx Harsono, Yun-Fei Ji, Bari Kumar, Dinh Q. Lê, Nyoman Masriadi, Shazia Sikander and Ai Weiwei.
 “This exhibition provides an outstanding opportunity for audiences to learn about the latest artistic directions and developments by esteemed artists from nations throughout Asia,” says Beth E. Levinthal, the Hofstra University Museum’s executive director.
It can be viewed through Dec. 10.
Travel back in time at “Exploring the Centuries: 3rd-20th Century Asian Art,” which is on view through Feb. 8. The featured works highlight esteemed and centuries-old artistic practices and traditions from the cultures of Japan, China, India, Tibet and Thailand, along with pieces from the Museum’s permanent collections.
Co-curated by Albert and Kristy Caratzola, the exhibit is divided into three categories: Buddhism; Devotional Sculpture; and Flowers, Animals and the Seasons. Many diverse works are on view, including woodblock prints, hand-painted scrolls, metal works and sculpture,
“The museum’s extensive permanent collections provide impressive examples of Asian art representing numerous cultures and artistic approaches,” Levinthal says. “We are pleased to share some of these treasures with our audiences as they make personal connections between Asian art of the past and our contemporary world. 

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