Exhibits of works by Rodin and Peter Max highlight visual arts season

Reprinted from Richmond Times-Dispatch

By JOAN TUPPONCE Special correspondent | Posted 2 days ago

The visual arts will take you on a sensory journey this season with everything from the sculptures of the legendary Auguste Rodin to paintings by pop-culture icon Peter Max.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will present the U.S. premiere of “Rodin: Evolution of a Genius” from Nov. 21 to March 13. The exhibit opened in Montreal and will visit Richmond before heading to New England. Organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Musée Rodin in Paris, the exhibition will feature more than 200 works by Rodin.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Director Alex Nyerges traveled to Montreal to see the exhibit this spring and described his reaction as “breathless.”

“It’s a stunning show. It would be easy to argue that Auguste Rodin is the most important 19th-century sculptor,” Nyerges said. “When you compare him to a legion of other sculptors, he is in a class of his own.”

The collection features some of Rodin’s greatest works and gives a behind-the-scenes look at his creative process.

“What it will show the visitor is how Rodin conceived structures and reworked them,” Nyerges said. “You will see them in plasters, marbles, ceramics and bronzes in different sizes. It’s an amazing array. It gives you a complete picture of the genius of Rodin.”

The exhibit also includes drawings and vintage photographs of Rodin at work. “It takes you from concept to final execution,” Nyerges said.

Chasen Galleries is bringing back the art of pop-art icon Peter Max Oct. 2-11 in the exhibit “Peter Max — A Retrospective — 1960-2015.” His work was last shown at Chasen in 2013.

“We are expecting a completely new variety of images in another vast collection spanning the artist’s career,” said Jeff Timlin, gallery director. “Peter’s work has a universal appeal that spans all generations. It brings people together. We’re grateful for the opportunity to host him here in Richmond.”

Chasen will host receptions with Max on Oct. 10 and 11.

In honor of the UCI Road World Championships coming to Richmond later this month, Brazier Gallery will open an exhibit tomorrow showcasing artwork of Richmond landmarks by Italian artist Guglielmo Botter. The exhibit, which runs through Oct. 1, will include oil paintings as well as pen and ink prints.

And Candela Books + Gallery kicks off its season tomorrow with the solo show “Resonantia” by Louviere + Vanessa. The multi-sensory exhibit incorporates vinyl records, film and abstract photographs. It runs through Oct. 24.

At Reynolds Gallery, photographer Sally Mann and artist Heide Trepanier will have simultaneous exhibits Sept. 18 to Oct. 30.

Mann, a Virginia native and renowned photographer, will be showing six new photographs of rivers around Virginia and three works from the “Motherland” series of Virginia and Georgia, along with two works from the “Deep South” series.

Trepanier’s artwork centers on themes of chaos and order. She freely splatters, sprays and sweeps paint over her canvases, creating abstract and gestured works of art.

From Nov. 6 to Dec. 24, the gallery will feature exhibitions of three artists — Ray Kass, David Freed and Jason Keith — each with a unique style. Kass takes his inspiration from nature and explores different aspects of the natural world. Freed, a professor emeritus of Virginia Commonwealth University, uses abstract qualities to capture the essence of a landscape or an individual. Keith adheres print materials, such as magazine ads and newsprint, over his panels and adds layers of paint on top before sanding them to reveal the underlying color and texture.

Josh George, who uses his art to focus on the urban landscape, will be featured at glave kocen gallery Oct. 2-28.

“His work is colorful, detailed, bold, whimsical and even a little mischievous,” BJ Kocen, co-director of the gallery, said of George’s work. “We love what you can discover in one of his pieces. … You can look for days and still find something new. This will be his first exhibit with us and we couldn’t be more excited.”

Glave kocen will feature Steven Walker in “New Works” from Dec. 4-24.

“Steven is a favorite among our patrons and one of the artists we’ve been working with the longest,” Kocen said. “He’s always pushing his work in new directions.”

Personal relationships are the focus of the exhibit “Pierre Daura (1896-1976): Picturing Attachments,” running through Oct. 8 at University of Richmond’s Harnett Museum of Art. The exhibit features more than 70 works, including paintings, sketches and drawings of his wife, Louise, and their daughter, Martha, as well as self-portraits.

“Pierre Daura, from Barcelona and studying in Paris in the 1920s, fell in love with Louise Heron Blair, an art student from Richmond,” said Richard Waller, executive director of University of Richmond Museums. “You can see the artist’s life unfold through his art: love, courtship, fatherhood, the Spanish Civil War, exile in America and more. After World War II, he and his family divided their time between their homes in Rockbridge Baths, Virginia, and Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, France.”

The university’s Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature will host “Massive Rocks & Minerals: Selections from the Collection” Oct. 1 to May 13. The exhibit will feature “30 spectacular specimens that were extracted from mines all over the world including Mexico, Chile, Brazil, India and Japan,” said Matthew Houle, curator of museum collections for the University of Richmond Museums. “These specimens are visually stunning, illustrating different types of mineral composition, color and crystal forms.”

The 1708 Gallery will hold the popular InLight Richmond 2015 on Nov. 13 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The event will feature performances, video, sculpture and interactive projects that will illuminate the grounds of the museum. Over its seven years, 1708’s InLight has featured 190 local, national and international artists and artist collectives across some of Richmond’s most unique neighborhoods and sites, from Broad Street to historic Tredegar to Monroe Park.

In its gallery, 1708 will feature the art of Tameka Norris Oct. 22 to Dec. 5. Norris, who combines performance, video and painting, will create new work for 1708 that continues her interest in sites with complex racial narratives and draws attention to similarities among Richmond, New Orleans and New Haven, Conn.

Page Bond Gallery is presenting “Empathy: New Paintings by Christopher Baer” through Oct. 31. Baer’s style of art combines layering, hue and transparency to show the progression of each work. This marks his second solo show at the gallery.

The Visual Arts Center of Richmond is hosting an exhibit by Hoss Haley that opens tomorrow and runs through Oct. 31. Haley sculpts two- and three-dimensional works in steel, concrete and bronze. The center will feature the mixed-media art of Stacy Lynn Waddell from Nov. 13 to Jan. 8. Waddell creates much of her art with branded or burned paper.

The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen will present “P. Buckley Moss/Moss Landscapes” through the end of this month in the Slantwall Gallery. The gallery will hold a meet-the-artist event on Sept. 10. The center’s Gumenick Family Gallery will feature “Exploration III” by Richmond artist Vinnie Gonzalez from Sept. 17 to Nov. 15. Gonzalez layers metallic and pearlescent paint and powders to create textural elements for his art.

Elegba Folklore Society opens an exhibit tomorrow in its cultural center and gallery by Charlottesville artist Bolanle Adeboye. “Shack City,” which will be on display until Nov. 30, celebrates the link between necessity and resourcefulness, and the transformative passage from isolation to community. “Adeboye’s art expresses her focus on finding and appreciating the exquisite in the mundane,” said Janine Bell, president and artistic director of Elegba Folklore Society.

“Selma 50,” by photographer Ava Reaves, opens Dec. 4 and runs through Feb. 29. The exhibit captures the emotion and purpose of the “Bloody Sunday” remembrance, Bell said.