Dorsky Museum appoints Daniel Belasco as Curator of Exhibitions and Programs

NEW PALTZ – The State University of New York at New Paltz and the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art are pleased to announce the appointment of Daniel Belasco as the museum’s new Curator of Exhibitions and Programs.

Belasco is a noted curator and critic of contemporary art. A former Associate Curator of The Jewish Museum with a PhD in the History of Art and Architecture from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, Belasco has strong experience with the full range of demanding curatorial responsibilities in the exhibition and care of objects in all media. Working with Jewish Museum collections and new research, he organized two critically acclaimed exhibitions, “Reinventing Ritual” (2009) and “Shifting the Gaze: Painting and Feminism” (2010), and commissioned new works and installations. In his role managing the Jewish Museum’s contemporary design program, Belasco spearheaded the Italian design company Alessi’s first collaboration on new products with an American museum.

As a freelance curator, Belasco has organized and consulted on exhibitions nationally. His signature exhibition, “The Dissolve,” the critically acclaimed SITE Santa Fe Eighth International Biennial (2010) co-curated with Sarah Lewis, employed new technology and an innovative design by architect David Adjaye to redefine the presentation of film and video, featuring work by William Kentridge, Kara Walker, Thomas Demand, and Paul Chan.

Says Sara Pasti, The Neil C. Trager Director of the SDMA: “We are thrilled to have Daniel join the team at The Dorsky. His interest in the unique opportunities for innovation and education offered by a university art museum is well suited for our young and growing museum. Daniel combines college-level teaching and experience working directly with artists, and is sure to bring new ideas and opportunities to The Dorsky Museum and SUNY New Paltz at large.”

Belasco’s scholarship and criticism on architecture, decorative arts, sculpture, and painting has appeared in books, catalogues and art journals in the U.S. and internationally. Since 2010, he has served as Assistant Adjunct Professor at The Jewish Theological Seminary, in New York, teaching advanced seminars that bridge curatorial and critical studies in contemporary art and visual culture. He has given invited lectures at Rhode Island School of Design, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sotheby’s Art Institute, and Temple University.

At The Dorsky, Belasco will work to continue The Dorsky’s rise as one of the premiere venues for art exhibition in the mid-Hudson Valley. He says, “With recent and upcoming exhibitions on Shinohara, Malian portrait photography, and Tibetan contemporary art, The Dorsky is fast becoming an important center of international art in the Northeast. The museum also serves as a hub for the art and culture of the Hudson Valley region, which is significant both historically and in the present time. I am looking forward to organizing exhibitions and developing programs that make significant contributions to art history and stimulate our diverse university and community audiences. The possibilities here are wide open.”

In addition to managing The Dorsky Museum’s exhibitions and public programs, Belasco looks forward to teaching in museum studies and art history at the University starting in Fall 2013. For his first exhibition at The Dorsky, Belasco will curate the 7th Hudson Valley Artists Annual, opening June 22, 2013. For Screen Play, artists are encouraged to submit work that responds to or uses screens as a material, process, or metaphor. Screens as varied as carpets and textiles, painted canvases, projected images, and digital monitors serve as poetic and practical means to translate experience from one realm to another. The open call will be announced shortly.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM

The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, located at SUNY New Paltz, is fast gaining wide recognition as the premier public showplace for exhibition, education, and cultural scholarship about the Hudson Valley region’s art and artists from yesterday and today. With more than 9,000 square feet of exhibition space distributed over six galleries, The Dorsky Museum is one of the largest museums within the SUNY system. The Dorsky was officially dedicated on Oct. 20, 2001. Since then it has presented over one hundred exhibitions, including commissions, collection-based projects, and in-depth studies of artists including Robert Morris, Alice Neel, Judy Pfaff, and Carolee Schneemann.

For more information about The Dorsky Museum and its programs, visit
http://www.newpaltz.edu/museum, or call (845) 257-3844.