The Parrish Art Museum Shows a Major Dorothea Rockburne Retrospective

Written by Tammy Wheeler Wednesday, 22 June 2011 21:41

Southampton, NY.- The Parrish Art Museum is pleased to present "Dorothea Rockburne: In My Mind's Eye", the first major retrospective of the artist's work, on view until August 14th. This exhibition will be accompanied by a 160-page catalogue with 52 full-color illustrations, published by the Museum and distributed by ARTBOOK | D.A.P. Essayists include the curator, Alicia Longwell, who will provide an overview of the artist’s profound engagement with the history of art.

Three additional contributors will investigate salient aspects of Rockburne’s career: Stéphane Aquin, Curator of Contemporary Art, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, will write about Rockburne’s early years in Montreal and the cultural and artistic climate that shaped her future development as an artist; art historian David Anfam will examine Rockburne’s work within the context of art world movements and strategies of the 1960s, 70s and 80s; and Robert Lawlor, author of Scared Geometry: Philosophy & Practice, will probe the artist’s lifelong engagement with ancient knowledge. The catalogue will also include a selected chronology of life and work with artist’s statements.

Born and raised in Montreal, Rockburne first studied at the city’s École des Beaux-Arts with Paris-trained painters Paul-Émile Borduas and Jean-Paul Riopelle. Beginning in 1950, she attended the legendary Black Mountain College in Asheville, North Carolina, where classes with Merce Cunningham, John Cage, and, perhaps most significantly, the mathematician Max Dehn, had a seminal influence on her work. With fellow students Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, and John Chamberlain, she thrived in the unique cross-disciplinary curriculum at Black Mountain and brought this sense of exchange and collaboration when she moved to New York, working in dance and performance in renowned early pieces with Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, and Carolee Schneemann, among many others. Rockburne’s work, with the use of materials such as cardboard, sheet metal, and crude oil, began to gain wide attention in New York in the 1960s; in 1971 she had her first solo exhibition at the famed Bykert Gallery. From this early minimalist vocabulary, Rockburne has expanded the discourse to include investigations of, among other themes, the Golden Section, the solar system, and the writings of Pascal—all seamlessly joined in an ongoing synthesis of rigorous intellect and ardent pursuit.

The Parrish Art Museum is devoted to the collection, preservation, interpretation and dissemination of American art with particular focus on the art of the East End of Long Island.  The Museum is committed to bringing art and people together in its education and outreach programs. While the Museum’s programs, its exhibitions, collections, educational activities and publications are related specifically to American culture, its past and present, each is related broadly to other cultures, to artifacts, to all visual forms and to aesthetic and humanist concerns. Through its programs, the Museum pursues innovative and experimental approaches, and stimulates dialogue and inquiry.  It also encourages scholarship of its professional staff and initiates collaboration with related institutions. Over the years, the Museum’s holdings have grown to encompass a distinguished collection of American art from the nineteenth century to the present, with a particular focus on the art and artists of Long Island’s East End, and includes paintings by American Impressionist William Merritt Chase and works by the pre-eminent 20th-century realist Fairfield Porter. Today the collection includes the work of many of the most important artists who have lived and worked in the region, including Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Willem de Kooning, Dan Flavin, and Roy Lichtenstein, as well as those who are currently part of the dynamic art scene, such as John Chamberlain, Chuck Close, Eric Fischl, April Gornik, and Elizabeth Peyton. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.parrishart.org

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