Sculptor Jonathan Bonner Talks at SUNY New Paltz

NEW PALTZ — The Student Art Alliance of SUNY New Paltz welcomes sculptor and installation artist Jonathan Bonner for a slide lecture on Wednesday, November 28, 2001. This free lecture begins at 7:30 PM in Lecture Center room 112 and is open to the public.

Jonathan Bonner’s work elegantly combines art and science using fluid forms that suggest function while maintaining a sculptural identity. His work has been featured in over forty solo shows throughout the United States, and is represented in the collections of many national museums including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; and internationally in the Fidelity Investments collection, London, England.

Bonner works in various materials including stone, wood and steel, though he is best known for his work that explores the membranous nature of sheet copper. These copper sculptures often take an organic shape that contrasts with the sterile, cold nature of the material.

The work Bonner produces for exhibitions is of human scale – appropriate for interior spaces and intimate exterior sites. These works include numerous drawings and sculptures by the artist. Bonner has also completed many public and private site-specific commissions. He is currently working on large-scale sculptures for a park in downtown Boston and for Fidelity Management’s Cumberland, Rhode Island headquarters.

Bonner’s most recent work, Front Pockets, opened at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum earlier this month. For this show, Bonner created eleven pairs of objects designed to fit into two front trouser pockets. Some are austere and graceful, others humorous and peculiar. In a companion video, the objects are made to perform in mischievous ways. The juxtaposition of the exhibited objects against their video presentation alludes to the traditional relationship of function to design. Bonner has designed a book to accompany the exhibition.

Information on other arts events at SUNY New Paltz is available on the Web at www.newpaltz.edu/artsnews or by calling 845-257-3872. The Student Association provides funding for this event through the Student Art Alliance.

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Note to editors: Images of Bonner’s work are available on the Web at www.newpaltz.edu/news/images/bonner.html. Other image formats and sizes are available upon request. Call 845-257-3872.