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May Issue 2010
Gibbes Museum
of Art in Charleston, SC, Features Works by JoAnn Verburg
The Gibbes Museum of
Art in Charleston, SC, will present the exhibit, JoAnn Verburg:
Interruptions, featuring photographs of Spoleto, Italy, presented
in partnership with Spoleto Festival USA, on view from May 28
through Aug. 22, 2010. Organized in conjunction with Pace/MacGill
Gallery, New York, the exhibition features recent portraits and
large single and multi-panel architectural prints made in Spoleto,
Italy.
Verburg photographs the narrow streets and passageways of the
historic center of Spoleto, Italy, an ancient Umbrian city where
she and her husband, poet Jim Moore, live part-time. The images
depict angled building facades, receding courtyards and transitory
corridors that emphasize the subjectivity of perception and observation
through calculated shifts in her camera's focus and perspective.
In contrast, Verburg's tightly cropped, close-ups of Spoleto's
residents are timeless yet grounded compositions. These portraits
remain elusive and at the margins of a specific place and time,
however, with no immediate reference to their surroundings at-large. When
viewed together, the cityscapes become backdrops into which the
photographed individuals could wander at any time.
Verburg has exhibited her work extensively in the United States and abroad. Most recently, The Museum of Modern Art mounted Present Tense, a mid-career exhibition that traveled to the Walker Art Center (2007-08). A hardcover catalog published by Steidl accompanies the exhibit. The catalog includes an essay by Walter Liedtke, Curator of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
"This exhibition allows us to showcase a world-renowned photographer while reinforcing the connection between the festival in Charleston and the city of Spoleto. JoAnn Verburg's body of work features the residents and architecture of Spoleto with an emphasis on the intersection between past and present-a concern as relevant for Charleston as it is for the city of Spoleto" said Gibbes Executive Director Angela D. Mack.
JoAnn Verburg (b. 1950)
received a BA in sociology from Ohio Wesleyan University and an
MFA in Photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology. She
has held teaching positions at Yale University and the Minneapolis
College of Art and Design. Verburg is the recipient of numerous
honors including a Guggenheim Fellowship (1986), multiple artist
fellowships from the Bush Foundation (1983, 1993) and the McKnight
Foundation (1994, 2004), and a Rockefeller Foundation Residency
at the Bellagio Conference and Study Center, Bellagio, Italy (1998).
Verburg's work has also been featured in numerous group exhibitions
and can be found in permanent collections including the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston;
The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Portrait Gallery,
Washington, DC; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
This exhibition was made possible by funding from US Trust and the Jerome Robbins Foundation.
Established as the Carolina Art Association in 1858, the Gibbes Museum of Art opened its doors to the public in 1905. Located in Charleston's historic district, the Gibbes houses a premier collection of over 10,000 works, principally American with a Charleston or Southern connection, and presents special exhibitions throughout the year. In addition, the museum offers an extensive complement of public programming and educational outreach initiatives that serve the community by stimulating creative expression and improving the region's superb quality of life.
For further information
check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Museum at
843/722-2706 or visit (www.gibbesmuseum.org).
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