January 20, 2000

Ramapo College Faculty Exhibit Is Eclectic Mix of Media and Concepts

(Mahwah) – Faculty Exhibition 2000, a group exhibition in various media by visual arts faculty at Ramapo College of New Jersey, will open Wednesday, February 2 in the College’s Kresge and Pascal galleries. A reception and artists talk is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m.

Work by Professor David Freund, a photographer, will include a conceptual wall installation consisting of digital images of early 20th century photographs combined with early 20th century packaging for hairnets and razor blades. "Since hair nets were marketed almost exclusively to women and razor blades to men to aid them in creating their public personae, package designers and marketers strived hard to divine and project the essence of womanliness and of manliness. These fabrications now reveal information originally unintended about concomitant effects of such constructions of gender," says Freund.

Jacquelyn Skrzynski, an adjunct professor, will display drawings depicting human/animal hybrids. "Physically and psychologically, I am identifying with the gestures of these animals by literally incorporating them. The hybrids describe the feral nature of domesticity, suggesting a suburban mythology."

Shalom Gorewitz, professor of communications media, will exhibit a multimedia computer program incorporating Quicktime film, a PowerPoint presentation, and "Sore Sight for Restless Eyes," a seven-minute experimental film created using Adobe Premiere and Cakewalk software.

Adjunct Professor Laura Grunwerg, who creates digital images from old post cards, will exhibit three works: "German Stained Glass Window," a three-dimensional light box; "Hiberno-Saxon Cross"; and "French Medieval Tapestry." Sculptor Jay Wholley, a professor of art, will exhibit small sculptures and two- and three-dimensional drawings pinned to the wall. Jason Middlebrook, whose Styrofoam table and clocks mimic redwood furnishings, asks the viewer to grapple with the idea of preservation and sculpture as kitsch.

Also on exhibit will be "Other Worlds," small metal sculpture by Professor of Art Judith Peck; a 40 inch triptych of Times Square by Warner Wada, professor of painting; computer-generated digital images by Jonathan Lipkin, an assistant professor of computer art; and video by Douglas Kelley, distinguished visiting artist. Additional works by adjunct professors include small, colorful, gestural paintings of geometric shapes by John Griefen, photos by Victoria Heilwel, Michael Lonier’s C-print photos of Times Square, and photography by Jennifer Weber, described as works that involve notions of fantasy and unrealistic color, exploring issues of location.

The exhibit runs through February 25. The Kresge and Pascal galleries are located in the Angelica and Russ Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. For more information, please call gallery director Sydney Jenkins, (201) 684-7147.