The Farnsworth Art Museum opens a Major Robert Indiana Exhibition

Written by Felix Moran Sunday, 06 February 2011 23:55

Rockland, ME - On Saturday, June 20, the Farnsworth Art Museum, in Rockland, will open a major exhibition entitled Robert Indiana and the Star of Hope which will run in the museum’s Morehouse Wing and Crosman Gallery through October 25. The opening of Robert Indiana and the Star of Hope will be celebrated at a Live at Night at the Farnsworth party at the museum on Friday, June 19, with a members’ only preview and reception from 6:30 to 8 p.m. followed by a free public party from 8 to 9:30 p.m. The exhibition on renowned American artist Robert Indiana is drawn almost exclusively from his extensive holdings at his home and studio, the Star of Hope Oddfellows Lodge on the island of Vinalhaven, Maine. The show explores the vast range of Indiana’s work from the 1950s to the present, focusing on what he has done since 1978, when he moved permanently to the Star of Hope Lodge, a late nineteenth-century building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

In particular, it examines the remarkable environment Indiana has created there and the role this environment has played in his work. It will include some of his best known themes – LOVE, the American dream, and his Marsden Hartley Elegy series – as well as more recent work such as the HOPE sculpture which premiered at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. It features works Indiana considers critical to his development, many shown for the first time. 

The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with essays by prominent curator and historian of American art, John Wilmerding, on Indiana’s work dating from his move to Vinalhaven to the present, and by Farnsworth Chief Curator Michael K. Komanecky on the Star of Hope Lodge. The primary media sponsor for Robert Indiana and the Star of Hope is Down East Magazine, books and online.

The Live at Night at the Farnsworth party will be preceded by the world premier of a new film on Robert Indiana by filmmaker Dale Schierholt entitled A Visit to the Star of Hope: Conversations with Robert Indiana. The film, which will be shown at Rockland’s Strand Theatre at 5:30 p.m., is free to museum members. Tickets for non-members will be made available on June 12 for $25 .

In association with this exhibition, Farnsworth Interim Director and Chief Curator Michael K. Komanecky will give a lecture on Robert Indiana and the Star of Hope, on Saturday, June 27, at 1 p.m. The lecture will take place in the museum auditorium. The fee for this event is $15 for members and $20 for non-members.

On Wednesday, July 8, at 1 p.m., Mr. Komanecky will give a gallery talk entitled Robert Indiana’s Sculpture as part of the Curator’s Choice series ongoing at the museum. The talk is limited to 20 people and is free with museum admission.

On Wednesday, July 15, at 6 p.m. in the museum auditorium, filmmaker Dale Schierholt will present a second documentary entitled Installing Indiana, which tells the story of the installation of the exhibition Robert Indiana and the Star of Hope at the Farnsworth. Limited to 80 people, this event is free.

Finally, on Monday, August 10, at 6 p.m., Princeton University Professor Emeritus John Wilmerding will give a lecture entitled Indiana’s Paintings: Quintessential Pop Art in the museum auditorium. This event is limited to 80 people and the fee is $15 for members and $20 for non-members.

For more information or to register for these associated programs, please call the Education Department at 207-596-0949 or visit the Education section of the Farnsworth’s new website at www.farnsworthmuseum.org.