You're invited to the opening reception of The Bridge Groups Artists show IMAGINATION on October 4th from 5-7pm at MoMA! Please Click Here To RSVP.
The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education & Research Building at MoMA
4 West 54th Street
Exhibition on display from October 4 – 31, 2011
Starting Tuesday, November 15, 2011 the show will move to The Bridge (248 West 108th Street, Gallery 300) Opening Reception: 1:15 to 8:00 pm, Remarks at 1:30 and 7pm. Please come by!
Exhibition on display from November 15 – December 15, 2011
“I close my eyes in order to see.”
-Paul Gauguin
The Bridge Group Artists began twenty-three years ago under the direction of Judith Raskin Rosenthal, ATR. Many of the artists began with very little or no formal training. Eventually the group attracted individuals with some art education or experience. All have come to understand that the desire to create is in itself an expression of mental wellness and that—as artists—there is always room for growth.
Over the past year, MoMA's Department of Education and The Bridge’s Art Department participated in their sixth annual extended partnership. Through this unique collaboration, artists from The Bridge and their art therapist met with MoMA educators to explore new ideas and approaches to art at the Museum. Through guided tours and independent visits, the Group learned about the perspectives and techniques of a variety of artists. Back at their studio at The Bridge, the artists created a new body of work informed by their experiences.
IMAGINATION was chosen as the theme of this year’s partnership. Imagination can be defined as “the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality.” Putting these images on paper, on canvas or in clay provides a way for artists to understand and express themselves. At MoMA, we began by looking at some of the earliest works in the Collection to see how artists were championing imagination over reality and depicting their individual experiences of the world. Through two special exhibitions, German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse and Impressions from South Africa: 1965 to Now, we explored the ways in which artists from different countries—and different centuries—commented on their social, political and private worlds through their art. In Picasso: Guitars 1912-1914, we examined and discussed Picasso’s material and structural experimentation.
Inspired by the techniques and approaches of the artists whose work they viewed at the Museum, the Bridge artists pushed themselves into new territory. They were encouraged to take their best work and push it further, to mine their imaginations and try new techniques. Their subject matter ranged from New York City to India to an imagined aerial view of Springfield—home of The Simpsons—and beyond, to animals and abstractions. Some began using color in a non-representational manner. Leaves were purple, lips were green and eyes red. Materials and tools were used imaginatively as well. One artist began repeatedly tracing the rim of a paper cup in order to form shells, snakes and abstract compositions. Another spoke of overcoming fears and being inspired by the newfound freedom that came with being aesthetically daring. Everyone explored new ground.
We admire and would like to thank them, for it is their talent and dedication that make this collaboration a success.
Thank You: Carrie McGee, and Gordon Sasaki, The Museum of Modern Art
Judith Raskin Rosenthal, The Bridge
