YONKERS, NY.- Art as both creative output and curated object is in constant dialogue with the past and the present. It is this never-ending conversation that pushes art into its future, forcing us to continually reimagine the ways in which we project a vision of ourselves and the world around us. Order / Reorder: Experiments with Collections explores approaches to looking at American art that consider expressions of American identity from new perspectives. The exhibition is co-curated by Laura Vookles, Chair, Curatorial Department,
Hudson River Museum, and Bentley Brown, Adjunct Professor of Art History at Fordham University and PhD Fellow, NYU Institute of Fine Arts.
The works on view range across genres: portraiture, figural studies, still life, landscape, and abstraction. Recent additions to the Museum’s collection and other artworks on view for the first time are joined by visitor favorites, paired with special loans from the Joslyn Art Museum and contributions from regional artists. Rather than structured chronologically, the installation is designed to spark discussion through juxtapositions of styles, outlooks, and eras. Works by renowned artists are in conversation with those now emerging.
“It’s been inspiring and invigorating to work with Bentley Brown, my HRM colleagues, and numerous artists to look at our collection with fresh eyes, considering new ways it can spark interaction and wonder, as well as meaningful conversations about current issues,” said Laura Vookles, Chair of the HRM’s Curatorial Department. “We welcome our communities to find joy in art, consider new viewpoints, and explore their own creativity, as well as the many stories to be found in the Museum’s rich collection.”
Co-curator Bentley Brown added, “There are times when we need to reevaluate what has been done, reimagine the narratives we have created, and then reconsider how we will move forward. These past two years have certainly been a testament to this. And I believe this labor starts at the local level and at museums such as the Hudson River Museum that are so rooted within the community.”
The exhibition invites viewers to find connections in unexpected groupings of objects. For example, arranging works by Hudson River School artist James Fairman, Southwest painter Eanger Irving Couse, and Shinnecock Nation photographer Jeremy Dennis side by side offers fresh insight into traditional assertions of who owns and has access to nature and current efforts by artists to combat erasure. Alison Moritsugu and Valerie Hegarty remind us that nineteenth-century visions of pristine nature presaged its destruction, and that the preservation of “wilderness” requires environmental stewardship. Contrasting images by Hananiah Harari and Winfred Rembert assert the dignity of the working class, whether at work or at play. In considering the impact of Modernism, art on view ranges from a 1951 rug designed by Henri Matisse for Alexander Smith & Sons in Yonkers to a mixed-media piece by Jamel Robinson, which demonstrates a new generation of artists that have embraced abstraction with new and impactful results.
The gallery experience will include ways for visitors to provide feedback on favorite themes and artworks, as well as to propose new pairings and groupings—all to help the Museum crowdsource ideas for future rotations and reinstallations.
Several works in this exhibition are generously lent by Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska as part of the Art Bridges' Collection Loan Partnership initiative.
