From December 1, 2011 through January 14, 2012, a solo exhibition by Hoboken artist Laura Alexander will be on display in the Tomasulo Gallery at Union County College’s Cranford campus. The exhibition, entitled “Laura Alexander” consists of oil on canvas paintings of different people in everyday situations. Her works are a petition against “sameness”.
She uses color to display emotion in her pieces. In her artist statement she discusses that as a society we have a need for conformity. However, Alexander questions “why?” and “whose set of standards are we compelled to copy?” She has stated, “Can the search for homogeneity ever teach us tolerance? Howard Johnson’s was the first franchised business to open in America. With its core value being ‘sameness,’ this concept of franchising has permeated every aspect of our society, most destructively throughout the educational system. Most disturbing is the practice within this standardized environment of labeling individuals who are different from the selected standard as somehow psychologically ‘lacking.’ Are they lacking or in actuality, ‘in full possession of?’” Alexander’s past exhibits include: 2011 BAMA Gallery, Hoboken, NJ; 2011 Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition; 2011 Monroe Center, Hoboken, NJ; 2011 Visual Arts Center of NJ, Summit, NJ; 2010 The Art Fair at the Beacon, Jersey City, NJ; and 2011 and 2009 George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ.
She holds a degree from the Main College of Art in Portland, Maine, and has studied at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont and the Arts Students League of New York. She was the 2006 recipient of the NJ State Council on the Arts Fellowship in painting.
Meet the artist at the opening reception for the exhibition on Friday, December 2, 2011 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm in the Tomasulo Gallery, located on the first floor of MacKay Library on the College’s Cranford campus, located at 1033 Springfield Avenue. Gallery hours are from 1:00pm to 4:00pm on Monday through Thursday and from 10:00am to 1:00pm on Saturday.
Evening hours are from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday through Thursday. Please note that the gallery will be closed from December 22, 2011 through January 1, 2012, and will re-open on Monday, January 2, 2012. For more information, please call (908) 709-7155 or visit the College’s website at http://www.ucc.edu/go/TomArt.
Union County College is a comprehensive community college serving approximately 35,000 credit and non-credit students. It is committed to serving the higher educational needs of Union County. The College has an open admissions policy for both transfer and career programs
and is dedicated to the fundamental values of public higher education. The first of New Jersey’s 19 community colleges, Union County College provides opportunities for higher education for people of diverse ethnic, racial, cultural, educational and socioeconomic backgrounds in a multi-campus setting. The College has campuses located in Cranford, Elizabeth, and Plainfield. For more information, visit www.ucc.edu.
