Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art receives $20,000 grant

NEW PALTZ – The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at the State University of New York at New Paltz has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation in support of a large-scale exhibition of Tibetan contemporary art.

“We are enormously pleased to receive this most generous grant from the Rubin Foundation,” said Sara Pasti, the Neil C. Trager director of the Dorsky. “The Tibetan exhibit will be an extraordinary display of contemporary art from a region that has produced glorious work for many centuries.”

Tentatively titled Anonymous: Tibetan Contemporary Art, the exhibition will be on view at the Dorsky from July 13 to December 15, 2013. Curated by Rachel Weingeist, independent curator and Senior Advisor to the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, the exhibition aims to explore the tension between an ancient culture’s unbroken artistic tradition of anonymity and the personality-driven world of contemporary art. The installation will feature works on loan from individual artists and private collections. Contemporary painting, photography, sculpture, installation, and mixed media works by Tibetan artists living both within traditional geographic borders and internationally will be included. A dynamic component of the exhibition, initiated by a global open call for video by Tibetan artists (www.opencallvideoart.com), will be a juried selection of video works. Also featured will be a small selection of traditional objects to provide historical context and orientation.

The exhibition will consider what role anonymity plays in the changing landscape of Tibetan contemporary culture by examining attitudes towards attribution and exploring how practitioners in the emerging field of Tibetan contemporary art react to and reinterpret their predecessors’ anonymous past. These discussions will provide a backdrop for a broad series of public programs, academic courses, and educational offerings for the scholarly and public New Paltz communities. Tibetan artists in residence at the Vermont Studio Center will be invited to present lectures and demonstrations at SUNY New Paltz as a means of expanding the educational impact on campus. The exhibition will travel to the Fleming Museum of Art at the University of Vermont in Burlington, and possibly other locations in the northeastern United States.

The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, a New York-based private family foundation, has a longstanding commitment to the promotion and celebration of Himalayan art (www.sdrubin.org). The Dorsky Museum of Art is one of the largest museums in the SUNY system, with more than 9,000 square feet of exhibition space distributed over six galleries (www.newpaltz.edu/museum/). The permanent collection comprises more than 5,000 works of art, with areas of focus that include American Art, with an emphasis on the Hudson Valley and Catskill Regions, 19th, 20th and 21st century photography and metals. A small but excellent "world collection" of art and artifacts dating back to ancient times and representing diverse cultures enhances museum’s exhibitions and educational programs. Through its collections, exhibitions, and public programs, The Dorsky supports and enriches the academic programs at the college, presents a broad range of world art for study and enjoyment, and serves as a center for Hudson Valley arts and culture.