The Miraculous in the Everyday
"The Miraculous in the Everyday" follows upon a four day ceremony at the University Gallery (November 14 - 17) where Tibetan Buddhist monks created a sand mandala painting from inception to completion and final dispersal into the Connecticut River, symbolizing the "world in harmony" (Sanskrit word for mandala) and the impermanence of all earthly things. Although links between Buddhist perspectives and the work of these three artists are meant only to be inferred, their art encourages an attitude of heightened awareness in the viewer, like the sudden illuminating change in perception that lies at the center of Zen practice. The work of Tom Friedman, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and Gabriel Orozco enriches our encounter with the real, regenerates our perception, opens our eyes to what is already there, and evokes the feeling of the world made new.
A carpet of shimmering silver wrapped candies, shredded pieces of felted lint draped on lines that stretch across the gallery, and a white column created from unrolled toilet paper are some of the highlights of the surprisingly elegant and lyrical works included in this exhibition.
Tom Friedman (born in St. Louis, 1965) will install an entirely new work created specifically for this exhibition. He has had solo exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art in New York (1995); the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (2000); The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York (2000); the Prada Foundation in Milan (2002); and appeared in numerous group exhibitions around the world.
The work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres (born in Cuba, 1957; died in New York 1996) was the focus of several major museum solo exhibitions in his lifetime and after his death. Retrospectives of his work have been organized by the Guggenheim Museum in New York (1995), the Sprengel Museum in Hannover, Germany (1997) and the Serpentine Gallery in London (2000).
The work of Gabriel Orozco (born in Mexico, 1962) has been featured in international exhibitions including the Sculpture Project in Munster (1997); XXIV S?o Paulo Biennial; Documenta X (1997); Venice Biennale (1993, 2003); as well as numerous solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Serpentine Gallery, London; and the Kunsthalle, Zurich.
Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 11 am to 4:30 pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 2 to 5 pm. The gallery will be closed from December 15, 2005 to February 6, 2006 for the intersession break. This is a program of the Fine Arts Center and is supported in part by the UMass Arts Council.
