American Academy Presents

The Invitational Exhibition

2 cols.

Heide Fasnacht, “Jump Zone,” 2006, tape, urethane, foam, and Styrofoam. Courtesy of the artist; Kent Gallery, New York; Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston.

MUST RUN 2/29

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS INVITATIONAL EXHIBITION; W/1 CUT;

SET 2/21; AK/CD #7298444

NEW YORK CITY — More than 80 paintings, photographs, sculptures, installations and works on paper by 30 contemporary artists will be exhibited at the galleries of the American Academy of Arts and Letters on historic Audubon Terrace (Broadway between 155 and 156 Streets) from Thursday, March 6, through Sunday, April 6. Exhibiting artists were chosen from a pool of more than 150 artists nominated by the 250 members of the academy, America’s prestigious society of architects, artists, writers and composers.

One of two exhibitions organized by the academy annually, the “Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts” will feature many new works on view for the first time in New York, including installations by Heide Fasnacht, Ann Hamilton and Gillian Jagger; paintings by Susanna Coffey, David Moreno, John Torreano, Marc Trujillo and Jack Whitten; sculptures by John Beech, Chris Hanson & Hendrika Sonnenberg, Justen Ladda and Ledelle Moe; and photographs by Bruce Davidson.

Surprises in terms of range of scale, choice of materials and diversity of media abound in this year’s invitational, with many works on view blurring the boundaries between sculpture and painting

Among the examples of the many visual translations and transformations at this year’s invitational are: Jack Whitten’s most recent painting features mosaiclike tiles of paint applied to canvas. Collapsing into a book or stretched out to meet architectural scale, two unfolding pigment prints mounted of cloth by Ann Hamilton explore the immutable power of art to transform time through memory and imagination. Heide Fasnacht also seeks to capture a frozen moment and explores both timing and intention by presenting a building simultaneously being constructed and deconstructed. Seeking to reveal the fleeting force of natural phenomena, Gilliam Jagger catches and casts actual pathways of horses taken from their hoof prints in the sand.

Mel Chin and Charles Long transform scavenged materials into formally complex and historically resonant paintings and sculptures, while David Moreno reinvents the obsolete audio tapes from his past by revealing the movement of their inaudible sound through sculpture and by incorporating select snippets into his vivid paintings. Chris Hanson and Hendrika Sonnenberg create meticulously crafted, reconstituted objects that call into question their true function and implied symbolism. John Beech fuses the utilitarian object with abstract art to undermine traditional art terminology and constructs.

Ledelle Moe and Justen Ladda employ scale and material to reveal both the strength and fragility of the human form; Moe’s unadorned heads powerfully address the erosion of power over time, while fabric in Ladda’s recent series of portraits appears as a second skin to elicit variations of character.

For general information, www.artsandletters.org or 212-368-5900.