May 23 - June 22

Bryan McFarlane: Recent Drawings and Paintings

Brooke Mullins Doherty "Release"  

Exhibit dates: May 23-June 22
Opening Reception May 23, 5:00pm-7:00pm
Artist Talk at 5:00pm             

About the ExhibitsBryan McFarlane:
Recent Drawings and Paintings

Artist Statement: I have a long and committed interest in the intersection of the practice of art making, art history and contemporary critical discussion. As an artist, I have been fortunate to receive several previous grants that allowed me to travel extensively to Brazil, Columbia, West Africa, Turkey, Japan and China to engage in international discourse regarding art history, art production and criticism. My engagement with the arts is also an intellectual endeavor. At every point, I have sought not simply to create art, but to understand the implications and possibilities for art within art history, criticism and philosophy as an intrinsic part of travel for art production.

China has recently become a very special part of my journey. I believe this time, it is one which will unquestionably define a most important period of my life’s work as an artist/painter. Having initially set up studio residency at the Red Gate Gallery for over two months during the summer of 2007. This activity allowed me the incentive I needed to move ahead on this path on solid grounds. From this juncture, I took the opportunity to create a series of work entitled: “Bicyclical Journeys” in Beijing which grew out of my current “egg series”. In a special way, this experience feels like a familiar one, having grown up with numerous friends during my formative years in Jamaica with large numbers of close extended family members who were Chinese. (Jamaica has a large population of third generation Chinese immigrants who are well established since the turn of the 19th century, of which group has firmly assimilated, contributing to important economic, political and socio-cultural life of Jamaica and the Caribbean.)  I have gone ahead through this vision and inspiration to set up studios to work there for the duration, as it’s environment helps to shape a concept that might lead to the creation of new and more fresh and unique work. A launching board for my current work to engage in the greater part of East Asia and the expanded contemporary art scene which China is now a major player as it  levels the playing field .

It is exciting to see how my works and those of other colleagues from the Caribbean and Jamaica being a part of this heralding and emergence from the 1.3 billion  people of China –of talents in contemporary art that may overwhelm the older art centers of Paris, Berlin, London and New York. As the writer of this statement, I feel obliged to reiterate that: We are at the end of an extended period of western cultural and ‘imperial dominance'-a period when both western aggrandizement and Soviet ideological straight jackets have run their course. These long competing systems have imploded, exhausted of new ideas and at times- depleted of originality. The vitality of the ascending order is emerging from the new cultures of the developing world, both in their own nations and in the great cities of the decaying old order. These new cultures are forging the future through their fresh zest for life, and growing discovery of their creative genius. As prevailing critical models fade and new and more dynamic ones appear, scholarship and criticism must embrace truly global artistic production, defined by it’s relationship to new centers of artistic fervor and brilliance. In this setting, Chinese prowess will be a major force in redefining  the contemporary art scene. Scholars alike are presently witnessing the transformation of global visual art expression as the continents of Africa, South America, the Caribbean – Jamaica, spew forth  waves of new artists towards this journey to East Asia and China.

http://www.bryanmcfarlane.net/

Brooke Mullins Doherty "Release"

Brooke Mullins Doherty’s work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions. She has had recent solo shows at the New Bedford Art Museum; Van Vessem Gallery in Tiverton, Rhode Island; Colo Colo Gallery in New Bedford, Massachusetts; Leslie Powell Gallery in Lawton, Oklahoma; the Anderson Gallery at Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts; Frame 301 at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts; 80 Border Street Cultural Exchange in East Boston; and the Student Union Art Gallery at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has also participated in numerous exhibitions including Art in the Park in Elm Park, Worcester, Massachusetts and The New Bedford Invitational: From Swain to Today at the New Bedford Art Museum.

Currently residing in New Bedford, Massachusetts and teaching at Lasell College in Newton, Massachusetts, Cape Cod Community College, Bristol Community College, and the Community College of Rhode Island, Brooke Mullins Doherty has also taught sculpture courses at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

Recently Brooke has been creating work for private and public commissions, and her work can be seen at The Naked Oyster in Hyannis, Massachusetts; Providence Community Acupuncture and The Spot Underground in Providence, Rhode Island; and the Old Colony YMCA in Brockton, Massachusetts. She loves creating site-specific artworks for homes and businesses and is currently accepting new commissions; please contact her for more information.

Brooke Mullins Doherty was born in Lawton, Oklahoma in 1981. She received her MFA in Sculpture from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and her BFA in Studio Art from the University of Oklahoma. She also holds a BA in Philosophy and minors in Art History and Psychology from the University of Oklahoma. 

http://www.brookemullins.com/