NEVELSON BY NIGHT

January 19 - April 6

The show focuses upon works by Louise Nevelson, one of the most important figures in contemporary art.  Nevelson by Night has been organized exclusively for the Cornell Museum by Director Luanne McKinnon and is the first comprehensive show about the sculptor presented in central Florida.  This exclusive Cornell exhibition follows the Nevelson retrospective The Sculpture of Louise Nevelson: Constructing a Legend  organized by the Jewish Museum, New York, now on view at the DeYoung Museum of Fine Arts, San Francisco through January 13, 2008.  CFAM's Nevelson by Night features approximately one dozen small and large-scale sculptural objects, c. 1958-1976, all of which are comprised of wood and black paint.

Louise Nevelson's method of using "found" objects gathered from New York City streets, building renovation sites, and cast-offs from lumber yards and wrecking areas that were transformed into a distinct sculpture language, earned her the  title of "grande dame of contemporary sculpture."  Her work has had profound effects upon many contemporary artists after her.  Beginning in the 1940s and continuing through the '80s, Nevelson's sculpture developed from tabletop works of art to human-scale columns to room-size walls and ultimately installations.

Louise Nevelson (1899-1988, Russian-born American), arrived in America from the Ukraine in 1905 at the age of 5.  Nevelson's breakout sculpture and prominent public commissions, was well as her acclaimed museum exhibitions and frequent critical attention, were at times unequalled by her extraordinary public persona which was distinguished by ethnographic garb and couture, fanciful headgear, massive neckwear, and an imposing set of multilayered false eyelashes.  Along with Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, Louise Nevelson is the single most recognized contemporary artist in America. 

ORLY GENGER and GANDALF GAVAN

January 19 - April 20

CFAM will be the site of two extraordinary, room-sized, sculptural installations created by the New York-based artists Orly Genger (b. 1979) and Gandalf Gavan (b. 1975).  Both Genger and Gavan will be given galleries which they will transform with their site-specific works. 

Orly Genger, a native new Yorker, graduated from Brown University and The School of groundbreaking art of the Art Institute of Chicago.  Her work is characterized as an extension of the 1960s, groundbreaking international recognized Eva Hesse (1936-70).  Genger weaves thick strands of rope, elastic strapping, yarn, and metallic ribbon with her fingers and piles, folds, and overlays the soft sculpture into temporary installation sites.  Genger was given a solo exhibition at the prestigious Larissa Goldston Gallery, New York where MASSPEAK (above photo), a sculpture comprised of over 200,000 feet of nylon climbing rope.

Gandalf Gavan was born in Berlin and lives and works in Brooklyn.  He received his M.F.A. from Columbia University where he has also taught printmaking.  Gavan is well known for his hand-blown glass and mixed-media installations wherein he recreates molecular forms from trellises and mirrors and incorporates flowers, feathers, dolls, and patterned objects into the environmental mix.  In the last three years, he has gradually taken his outdoor installations to indoor spaces, while focusing increasingly on site-specific elements.  The recipient of numerous awards and honors, P.S.1/MoMA (New York) featured Gavan's work in the exhibition "Infinite Affinities"  (above photo).