ATLANTA, GA.- The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA) announces the opening reception for BANDIT, new works by 2016/2017 Working Artist Project Fellow Craig Drennen. The exhibition takes place in the upper level galleries at MOCA GA. Exhibition dates are December 2 – January 27, 2018.
Craig Drennen is an artist based in Atlanta, GA. He is represented by Samsøñ gallery in Boston. His recent exhibitions include "The Grafforists" at the Torrance Art Museum, in Torrance CA, and "New Mistress vs. Old Athenians" at Brooklyn Fireproof in Brooklyn, NY. His work has been reviewed in Artforum, Art in America, and The New York Times. He teaches at Georgia State University and served as dean of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Since 2008 he has organized his studio practice around Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens.
Since 2008 Drennen has produced artworks inspired by the list of characters from Shakespeare’s worst play, Timon of Athens. BANDIT is Drennen’s first solo museum exhibition and features new paintings, sculptures, and videos prompted by the character of Bandit. The Bandit works feature imagery borrowed from the traditions of Santa Claus, money, and the modernist grid. The exhibition has a catalog available with an essay by Diana Nawi of the Perez Museum.
Craig Drennen selected by guest Curator Rene Morales, for the 2016/2017 Working Artist Project Fellowship
René Morales received degrees in Art History from Swarthmore College and Brown University. He has been a curator at the Perez Art Museum Miami—previously known as Miami Art Museum—since 2005. In 2014, he organized the museum’s current collection display Global Positioning Systems. Morales organized three well-received exhibitions for the opening of PAMM in 2013—Amelia Peláez: The Craft of Modernity, A Human Document: Selections from the Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, and Monika Sosnowska: Market. Recent exhibitions he has organized include a survey of the work of Miamibased painter Victoria Gitman, a discursive installation by Marjetica Potrc, a project that incorporates live parrots by the Rotterdam-based artist pair Bik Van der Pol, a site-specific sculptural work by Miamibased artist Nicolas Lobo, and a selection of Romare Bearden’s 1964 Photostat works. Morales is currently working on newly commissioned projects with Sarah Oppenheimer and Susan Hiller, as well as a major survey of the work of Dara Friedman. Prior to working at PAMM, Morales worked at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.
MOCA GA’S WORKING ARTIST PROJECT
MOCA GA’s Working Artist Project (WAP) was developed in support of mid-career or established artists in the greater metropolitan Atlanta area. Each year the program is funded by the Charles Loridans Foundation with additional funding provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Antinori Foundation and an account provided for each Fellow by Binders Art Supplies and Frames. This legacy initiative provides an unparalleled level of support for individual artists, expands the Museum’s mission, and promotes Atlanta as a city where artists can live, work, and thrive. MOCA GA supports artists by granting a major stipend to create new work; by presenting a solo exhibition of the new work; by producing an accompanying exhibition catalogue; and by providing paid studio apprentices over the course of one year.
