Dorsky Museum exhibitions explore the inner and outer sense of identity

NEW PALTZ – The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at the State University of New York at New Paltz will present a public reception for two new exhibitions titled “The Illustrious Mr. X: Museum Collection as Character Study” and “Thoughts of Home: Photographs from the Center for Photography at Woodstock Permanent Collection”, from 5 to 7 p.m., Friday, Aug. 27.

Curated by Karlos Carcamo and Greg Slick, “The Illustrious Mr. X: Museum Collection as Character Study” provides an alternative perspective on the museum’s permanent collection by employing the conceit of personification. The exhibition gathers thematic groups of objects, each of which represents a facet of a fictional life. The groupings include family, relationships, food, music, travel, and dreams, and have the double purpose of organizing the display of selected objects and of supporting the exhibition’s narrative – the construction of a personality.

“The Illustrious Mr. X: Museum Collection as Character Study” is presented as an autobiography in two volumes. Volume one is on display from Aug. 18 through Dec. 12, 2010. Volume two of the exhibition, which will include several new chapters from The Autobiography of Mr. X, will open in early 2011.

Greg Slick and Karlos Carcamo are artist/curators who live in Beacon, NY, where they formerly ran the Go North Gallery. A curator’s gallery talk will be presented on Sunday, Oct. 24 from 2 to 3 p.m.

The exhibition is presented in the museum’s Morgan Anderson Gallery. A special musical presentation by Beacon, NY DJ birdsonbuildings will take place in the gallery on Friday, Aug.27 from 5-6 p.m. as part of the opening activities.

“Thoughts of Home: Photographs from the Center for Photography at Woodstock Permanent Collection,” curated by Wayne Lempka, is a new exhibition on display in the museum’s Howard Greenberg Family Gallery. This exhibition explores how domestic environments reflect history, culture, nature, and ideology. Why do we surround ourselves with certain items? How do these items give others a view into our past, our present, our interests and desires? The exhibition deploys photographs from the permanent collection of the Center for Photography at Woodstock – on extended loan to the museum – in a visual investigation of beauty, personal narrative, and memory. Wayne Lempka, who curated “Beat and Beyond: Photographs by Allen Ginsberg “ for the Dorsky Museum in 2008, is collection manager at the museum.

At 7 p.m., immediately following the opening reception, performance group Cave Dogs will present their multi-media work “Unsure Certainties” in the McKenna Theatre, adjacent to the museum. This performance is part of the ongoing Dorsky Museum exhibition “Hudson Valley Artists 2010: Contemporary Art and Praxis,” which, along with “Andy Warhol: Private and Public in 151 Photographs,” will be celebrated at the reception.

The Friends of the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art and the State University of New York at New Paltz provide ongoing support for museum exhibitions and programs. Support for exhibition opening events has been provided by Campus Auxiliary Services and the office of the Dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts.