HUNTINGTON, N.Y.- The Heckscher Museum of Art presents Something To Look Forward To, on view through August 14, 2005. Today our fast-paced technocentric culture places extraordinary value on youth. As Baby Boomers grow older, cultural icons and technological advances are marketed to younger audiences, and the wisdom of age, all too often, is overlooked. In contrast, this summer the Heckscher showcases a visually stunning exhibition, Something to Look Forward To, that pays homage to the exceptional talent, unique vision, and courageous persistence of mature artists who have created dynamic, abstract images and objects during extended and successful careers. Twenty-two celebrated African American artists over the age of sixty were each invited to exhibit two works, created six to ten years apart. The submissions include several forms of abstract art: multimedia, painting, sculpture, and furniture. Curated for The Phillips Museum of Art by Bill Hutson, then Cook Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at Franklin & Marshall College, the exhibition opened at the college museum in March 2004. The Heckscher is the first venue of Something to Look Forward To in a national tour circulated by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services; the exhibition will remain on view through August 14.

This visually stunning, groundbreaking show features works by Betty Blayton, Frank Bowling, Yvonne Pickering Carter, Edward Clark, Melvin Edwards, Sam Gilliam, David Hammons, Gerald Jackson, Lawrence Compton Kolawole, Alvin Loving, Richard Mayhew, Sam Middleton, Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Joe Overstreet, Howardena Pindell, Helen Evans Ramsaran, John T. Scott, Sylvia Snowden, the late Mildred Thompson, Jack Whitten, William T. Williams, and Frank Wimberley.

According to Hutson, “Like aging athletes, older contemporary artists are expected to ‘throw in the towel.’ But creative visual artists do not retire. As we advance into a new millennium, more individuals are living longer, staying active, and enjoying a better quality of life than human beings realized during previous centuries. To honor the endurance of mature artists, the building blocks used in the architecture of this exhibition include style, identity, and age.”

The exhibition is accompanied by a handsome catalogue, with essays by April Kingsley, noted art critic and curator of the Kresge Art Museum at Michigan State University; Art AsiaPacific editor-in-chief Franklin Sirmans; and poet and essayist Geoffrey Jacques.

In his essay, Sirmans writes of the “grand tradition at work in this show that needs to be explored, nourished, cherished and supported. Through the artists and the artworks in Something to Look Forward To, we are offered first and foremost the opportunity to see great art by great artists, but secondarily to make consideration of abstract art that, while not totally original, is glorious. Bringing together these artists — who all happen to be ‘black’ — we can see that there is a black aesthetic to abstract art.”