“Mary Reid Kelley: Working Objects and Videos,” which was exhibited at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (SDMA) at SUNY New Paltz from January 22 – April 13, 2014, has been named a recipient of the 2014 International Association of Art Critics, United States (AICA-USA) 2nd place award in the Best Time-Based Format category.
“This is a confirmation and recognition of the quality of the work we’re doing at the Dorsky Museum,” said Daniel Belasco, museum curator for the Dorsky. “This is an award that comes from our peers – art critics, curators, people who are deeply invested in the sphere of contemporary art exhibitions.”
“Working Objects and Videos” is a melding of live performance and stop-motion animation techniques highlighting Reid Kelley’s work designing and crafting costumes, objects and drawings for video and film. The exhibition presented three of Reid Kelley’s videos in shared space with the various costumes, furniture ensembles, drawings, paintings and other props that populated them.
“It was really an immersive exhibition,” Belasco said. “On the one hand, you had the opportunity to see the videos, but then you were also walking into a three-dimensional version of the videos themselves.”
This exhibition, presented in collaboration with the SUNY Albany University Art Museum, was the first organized solely by Belasco following his 2013 appointment as museum curator. He had worked with Reid Kelley before and felt that her work would be ideal to present to the New Paltz community.
“The Dorsky Museum has a contemporary arts mission and a Hudson Valley mission, and I felt that Mary’s work represented a complete package for a university museum,” Belasco said. “This community is really hungry to learn. They want to be exposed to things they’re unfamiliar with, and learn new perspectives about artists and artworks they are familiar with. I enjoy the opportunities, the freedom, the support and the collegiality I’ve found at New Paltz.”
The AICA-USA awards are bestowed annually by the 400 members of the Association in recognition of exceptional work in the visual arts by artists, curators, gallerists, writers, scholars, and cultural institutions. Recent winners have represented art institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Dia Art Foundation.
Belasco will receive the prize on behalf of the SDMA at the AICA-USA awards ceremony on June 8 in New York City.
More information about the AICA-USA, including a complete list of their 2014 award winners, is available online.
