Beginning on Saturday, June 4, 2011 and running through July 16th, award-winning painter, sculptor and collage artist, Noel DeGaetano will have an exhibit of paintings and collages at the Pound Ridge Library Gallery, 271 Westchester Avenue, in Pound Ridge NY. The opening day reception will be from 2 to 5pm and the public is welcome. The artist will be present.
The origins of collage can be traced back hundreds of years, however, modern collage grew from Cubism when, beginning in 1909, Braque and Picasso began creating works using found pieces of material such as wood, paper, illustrations of type or pictures, and incorporating these elements into their paintings. Both the Surrealist period and the DADA movement followed, and included collage as typified by the German artist Kurt Schwitters, who used the term "Merz" to call his collage's "nailed pictures." In 1948, artist and poet Anne Ryan was inspired by an exhibition of Kurt Schwitter's collages and in the remaining years leading up to her death in 1954, she made over 400 exquisite collages. In 1959, the baton was passed to Robert Rauschenberg, who was captivated by an exhibition of Schwitters collages at the Sidney Janis Gallery on East 57th Street in Manhattan. And the tradition continues today as seen in the works of David Hockney, Cecil Touchon and Vikky Alexander, to name just a very few.
The influence of collage – a lyrical, complex and poetic medium – has attracted generations of artists, including DeGaetano. His use of innuendo and texture, and with often unusual and seemingly disparate found materials, together with paint, urges the viewer towards a higher consciousness. The many layers of collage asks us to think differently about our relationship to both the immediate world around us and the universe: to know the morning sun, feel the pulse of the ocean as we pass though a wave, and to contemplate the great distance that spans before us as we look at a crescent moon.
Find out what's happening in Bronxville-Eastchesterfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
DeGaetano studied at The Art Students League, The School Of Visual Arts, Hunter College, New York University, the Frank Reilly School (for drawing) and the New School For Social Research (painting with Joseph Steffanelli). He has taught and lectured for many years, including at the prestigious Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts on Long Island. DeGaetano's work can be found in the collections of corporations as well as individual patrons.
For more information on the exhibit or to make an appointment to see the artist's work, please contact Noel Fine Art at 914.337.4050 or email at: noel@noelfineart.com.
