RICHMOND, VA.-On October 18, 2007, the exhibition Figures of Thinking: Convergences in Contemporary Cultures opens at the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museums. Despite differences in cultural backgrounds, experiences, and approaches, the fourteen women artists in this exhibition explore some of the issues linking contemporary global society. Influenced by migrant cultures and readily available information through the Internet, their multi-media artworks present broad ideas of what culture, origin, home, identity, and human values might signify in a time of accelerated globalization. Meaning is found in how each artist weaves her personal narrative into artistic representation, allowing accessibility through shared experience and embedded knowledge.

Artists featured in this exhibition include Rina Banerjee, Lesley Dill, Ellen Gallagher, Mona Hatoum, Adrienne Heinrich, Nina Katchadourian, Simone Leigh, Wangechi Mutu, Yuki Onodera, Kathy Prendergast, Barbara Weissberger, Heesung Yang, Cheryl Yun, and Zarina. These artists were selected because they share certain visual and conceptual sensibilities, by their metaphorical use of materials, willingness to share the intimate and personal, their confrontation of stereotypes, regard for beauty, and immersion in process. The exhibition was co-curated by Vicky A. Clark, independent curator, Pittsburgh, and Sandhini Poddar, Assistant Curator of Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

The exhibition is toured under the auspices of Pamela Auchincloss/Arts Management, New York. An illustrated exhibition catalogue, co-published by Pamela Auchincloss/Arts Management and the University of Richmond Museums, is available for purchase at the University of Richmond Museums. The exhibition is on view in the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art through February 10, 2008.

At the Harnett Museum of Art, the exhibition and programs are a part of “Art, Hybridity, and the New Cosmopolitanism,” the University’s 2007-2008 Tucker Boatwright Festival of Literature and the Arts. The festival is made possible by the Tucker-Boatwright Festival of Literature and the Arts Endowment. Additional funding and help was provided by the Office of the President of the University of Richmond, the Office of the Provost, the School of Arts and Sciences, the Cultural Affairs Committee, the Office of International Education, the Modlin Center for the Arts, Departments of Art and Art History, English, Latin American and Iberian Studies and the Department of Painting and Printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts.