BLACKOUt: The Newark Museum 2010
BLACKOUT: A Centennial Commission by Paul Henry Ramirez (publication)
BLACKOUT 2010
BLACKOUT: A Centennial Commission by Paul Henry Ramirez
BLACKOUT: A Centennial Commission by Paul Henry Ramirez is a major site-specific installation that allows viewers to experience painting as an environment that one can enter. Using the Museum’s Charles Engelhard Court as his canvas, renowned artist Paul Henry Ramirez employs his signature curvaceous biomorphic forms amidst a profusion of pop-inspired colors in dialogue with the Court’s distinctive Beaux-Arts architecture. Dynamic rounded black forms and fine lines that spill and shift against the adjacent walls further animate the space, as do three geometrically inspired paintings that suggest bodies pushing against each other and through space. By including these and other elements that celebrate the human form and thrive on contemporary popular culture, Ramirez creates an immersive environment that pushes the boundaries of how we define and experience painting.
In his efforts to push the medium of painting into new dimensions, Ramirez has collaborated with musicians, furniture designers, choreographers and dancers, leading to the creation of installations and performances that engage multiple senses and art forms. With BLACKOUT, Ramirez had a second opportunity to work with musician So Takahashi and choreographer Debra J. Fernandez and her Skidmore College dance troupe. Together they created an original dance performance for fourteen dancers that translated the playful vitality of the installation into costumes, geometric props and dancers’ movements as they inhabited the arches and spaces of the Engelhard Court.
Organized by E. Carmen Ramos, Guest Curator, BLACKOUT is the fourth and final commissioned project initiated to celebrate the Museum’s Centennial year. It coincides and dialogues with the major Centennial exhibition, Constructive Spirit: Abstract Art in South and North America, 1920s-50s, which examines the connections among abstract artists from the United States and South America.
BLACKOUT: A Centennial Commission by Paul Henry Ramirez
BLACKOUT: A Centennial Commission by Paul Henry Ramirez is a major site-specific installation that allows viewers to experience painting as an environment that one can enter. Using the Museum’s Charles Engelhard Court as his canvas, renowned artist Paul Henry Ramirez employs his signature curvaceous biomorphic forms amidst a profusion of pop-inspired colors in dialogue with the Court’s distinctive Beaux-Arts architecture. Dynamic rounded black forms and fine lines that spill and shift against the adjacent walls further animate the space, as do three geometrically inspired paintings that suggest bodies pushing against each other and through space. By including these and other elements that celebrate the human form and thrive on contemporary popular culture, Ramirez creates an immersive environment that pushes the boundaries of how we define and experience painting.
In his efforts to push the medium of painting into new dimensions, Ramirez has collaborated with musicians, furniture designers, choreographers and dancers, leading to the creation of installations and performances that engage multiple senses and art forms. With BLACKOUT, Ramirez had a second opportunity to work with musician So Takahashi and choreographer Debra J. Fernandez and her Skidmore College dance troupe. Together they created an original dance performance for fourteen dancers that translated the playful vitality of the installation into costumes, geometric props and dancers’ movements as they inhabited the arches and spaces of the Engelhard Court.
Organized by E. Carmen Ramos, Guest Curator, BLACKOUT is the fourth and final commissioned project initiated to celebrate the Museum’s Centennial year. It coincides and dialogues with the major Centennial exhibition, Constructive Spirit: Abstract Art in South and North America, 1920s-50s, which examines the connections among abstract artists from the United States and South America.