UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

HOLLY ZAUSNER: UNSETTLED MATTER
& 
MOTT HUPFEL: DREAMS TO REALITY

Curated by Kristina Burns
​
March 1 - June 2, 2019
​Members Opening & Reception: Thursday, February 28, 2019, 6:30 - 8:30 PM


Holly Zausner's 2015 film “Unsettled Matter” will be screened along with stills from the film printed on aluminum. The films have a distinctly Hopperesque feel in their sense of isolation, ambiguity, and quietude. Also for consideration are Mott Hupfel’s photographs, which were inspired by his work as cinematographer for Unsettled Matter. Hupfel is also an established cinematographer in his own right, with works on feature films and in television. 

“Zausner passes through New York as a ghost - purposefully marching through empty streets, lobbies and stations, sometimes no more than a flicker, but just as often stopping to contemplate: a book in the basement of the Strand, the mangled visage of Queen Hatshepsut at the Metropolitan Museum, or us, the viewer, at the center of the swirling maelstrom of Times Square (the only time in which we see other human beings). Though she interacts with no one, she is performing for us, right up until the possible endpoint of the film, when she comes physically crashing down onto her workbench strewn with stills from her last work — death by art...”​ - Gregory Volk.
 
Mott Hupfel uses composition and, usually to a greater extent, lighting, to subtly lead the viewer through the world he creates. Hopper was a consummate student of light, sayingg, “I was more interested in the sunlight on the buildings and on the figures than any symbolism.”  Hupfel's study of light is the nexus of the growing series of images presented in relation to Zausner's work which also inspired him. In his career as a cinematographer Hupfel returns again and again to Hopper’s work for inspiration and often for explication when trying to elucidate an idea or a mood to a director during pre-production.  Hopper’s use of light and color in works such as Automat, Summer Evening, Morning Sun and, of course Nighthawks is a starting point for a series of photographs he has been working on for the last few years. These images, which he thinks of as the nuclei, or maybe the aftermath, of scenes he may capture for films, tend to have very dramatic, classically cinematic lighting and some element of human existence, if not a human itself, which Hupfel hopes will trigger questions in the viewer’s mind about what might happen - or has happened  there. These empty, or almost empty frames are, like many of Hopper’s works, infused with a sense of isolation and melancholy.  Like Hopper, the use of light, or lack of light in some of Hupfel's images, serves to transform the familiar into something mysterious and strange. 


Special thanks to sponsor:  

ALASTAIR NOBLE:
​Message in a Bo(a)ttle
Hopper & Boating

June 12 - August 25, 2019  
​Members Opening & Reception: June 11

Conceived by British artist Alastair Noble, this exhibition is inspired by Hopper’s youthful obsession with boating and his remarkable discovery of a message in a bottle by the river when he was sixteen. [Significantly, Hopper kept the bottle and his correspondence with the man who wrote the message, which are currently on display at the Hopper House.] Featuring flotillas of paper boats suspended from ceilings and running across gallery floors, Noble’s installation will also include “messages:” each boat will contain a phrase written by an author who Hopper admired. To evoke the atmosphere of river life, the installation will be punctuated by recordings made from the Hudson. Hopper’s own engagement with boating will be further represented by a remarkable selection of drawings of sailboats and other sea craft that he made as a young man.

Michael Banning: Hopper / Hammershøi

September 6, 2019 – November 24, 2019
Members Opening & Reception: Thursday, September 5, 2019
             
Curated by Kirsten Jensen
 
Exploring the shared elements of the work of Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi and Edward Hopper, Banning’s paintings visualize the affinity between these two artists and their influence on his own work.

object lessons

Spring 2020
             
Curated by Carole Perry

​A group of contemporary artists will display childhood objects charged with emotional associations which emphasize the influence of childhood on their personal and artistic development. It may be a toy, book, or other keepsake from the artist’s youth, or perhaps a drawings or painting that the artist made as a child. The exhibition will look at specific materials from Edward Hopper’s childhood as a point of departure to examine ways in which such objects influenced - or were harbingers - of his development. For instance, Edward Hopper drew “Little Boy Looking at the Sea” on the back of his report card from 1891. He was 9 years old that year and it was created within a year or two of that, when he started signing and dating his drawings. We can see that, at this early age, his artistic identity was beginning to take shape. There is much we know from his early childhood that led to his world view of an isolated, introspective figure that we now so closely associate his mature masterworks.