Museum & Gallery Openings
Steve Brodner at the Norman Rockwell Museum
“The 51st State” by Steve Brodner
This Saturday, the Norman Rockwell Museum, a center devoted to the art of illustration, launches its summer exhibition, Raw Nerve! The Political Art of Steve Brodner. The show, Brodner’s first major museum exhibition, will be on view through October 26.
Through more than 100 original works, Brodner, a self-described “equal opportunity offender” and “political journalist,” offers penetrating and witty insights into politicians such as Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and John McCain. The exhibition compares Brodner’s contemporary depictions of our nation’s leaders with Norman Rockwell’s “kinder, gentler” portraits of politicians created in another, perhaps more naive day.
“The last 30 years in American political life have been characterized by war, scandal, deception, hypocrisy and corruption, followed by… more war
and scandal. It’s been fun,“ says Brodner, who works in the tradition of such great political cartoonists as Francisco Goya, Honoré Daumier, James Gilray, and Thomas Nast. “Professional satirists are endowed with a perverse pleasure mechanism; we’re like bloodhounds who become elated at closing in on a body. And we provide, I think, a similar public service.“
In addition to hanging works, the exhibition will include a computer touch-screen linked to an illustration website, where Brodner posts daily drawings and commentary. A video installation will show live-action and animated works created by Brodner and the producer/director Gail Levin. These are based on Brodner’s current New Yorker assignment, “The Naked Campaign.” Through these multi-media elements, viewers can watch as Brodner responds to each day’s news stories. Museum-goers will also be able to vote in a mock election at a vintage voting machine.
On the evening of the opening reception, Brodner will offer commentary on his work and the Presidential campaign. A book signing of “Freedom Fries” by the artist will follow the talk. Complimentary non-partisan snacks will include left and right chicken wings, wry bread, big cheeses, crooked crackers, and sour grapes, plus a payola bar.
Route 183, Stockbridge; 413.298.4100
Opening reception: Saturday, 6 – 8 (artist’s remarks 6:30)
Admission: $15; members and anyone under 18, free
Reservations: 413.298.4100, ext. 221
Museum: daily 10 - 5 (off-season weekdays: 10 - 4)
Admission: $12.50/adults, $7/students, 18 and under (up to five per
adult) /free; Wednesdays off-season, $6.25/seniors
Rockwell’s studio: May - October
A New Show at Nicole Fiacco Gallery
“Spring” by Elizabeth Huey
Slow culture and the handmade as expressed in landscapes is the unifying theme of The Rain, the Park and Other Things, a group show organized by independent curator Renée Riccardo that opens on Saturday. The exhibit will be on view until July 12 and will be the final show at this location for the Nicole Fiacco Gallery, which will move to the 300 block of Warren Street in August.
The show includes photographs by Karen Azoulay, Megan Cump, and Victor Schrager, paintings by Elizabeth Huey, Joyce Korotkin, and Jason Middlebrook, and sculptures by Doug Morris and Jon Rosenbaum.
506 Warren Street, Hudson; 518.828.5090
Opening reception: Saturday 6 – 8
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 06/05/08 at 09:15 AM • Permalink
