Conversation with Shepard Fairey at Brooklyn MuseumBy STAN PARCHIN
March 25, 2010
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| Shepard Fairey. Photograph provided by Flickr. |
Shepard Fairey (b. 1970), graphic designer, illustrator and one of the most influential contemporary street artists of our time, discusses his career and work with Associate Curator of Exhibitions Sharon Matt Atkins at the Brooklyn Museum on Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 3:00 P.M. A book signing of
Obey: Supply and Demand (2006) and
Obey: E Pluribus Venom (2008) follows the talk.
Fairey is responsible for Obey Giant, his worldwide graphics campaign that changed how people see art and the urban landscape. He gained celebrity in the early 1990s with the iconic images and logos of his widely circulated street posters and stickers. His work, like that of Andy Warhol (1928-1987) and Keith Haring (1958-1990), intentionally blurs the distinctions between fine and commercial art. Fairey became internationally known for his Barack Obama HOPE poster during the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign.
May Day, a solo exhibition of Fairey's recent works at Manhattan's Deitch Projects (May 1-31, 2010), explores the various meanings of the show's title: a celebration of Spring, International Worker's Day (Labor Day) and a distress signal used in times of emergency.
Anubis to Meet Statue of Liberty in New York HarborBy STAN PARCHIN
March 15, 2010
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| Statue of Egyptian God Anubis Floats up Thames River. Photograph provided by Flickr. |
In anticipation of the special exhibition
Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at Manhattan's Discovery Times Square Exposition (April 23, 2010-January 2, 2011), a towering five-ton sculpture of the Egyptian god Anubis will sail into New York Harbor on March 23, 2010. There it will be juxtaposed for a time with the majestic Statue of Liberty. Hopefully the massive work, measuring 7.6 m (25 ft.) in height, will then take up temporary residence in Shubert Alley, directly opposite the traveling show's last and largest American venue.
The statue of Anubis, the jackal-headed deity who figures prominently in the Egyptian
Book of the Dead, made a similar historic voyage. London's Tower Bridge was raised in Fall 2007 when the monumental work sailed up the Thames River before its placement in Trafalgar Square. The event heralded the appearance of the exhibition's 130 mostly pharaonic treasures at the 02 (November 15, 2007-August 30, 2008).
Paul Johnson Appointed Deputy Director for Development at Brooklyn Museum
By STAN PARCHIN
March 11, 2010
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| Paul Johnson. Photograph provided by Brooklyn Museum. |
The
Brooklyn Museum announced today the appointment of longtime fundraiser Paul Johnson as its new Deputy Director for Development, effective mid-April 2010.
Education
Mr. Johnson holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from St. Olaf College and a Master of Music degree in Choral Music from the University of Southern California.
Experience
Early in his career, Johnson held development positions at the New York University School of Medicine and Columbia University. He then ran the development and membership program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. There he organized the campaigns to build the museum's new Visitor and Information Center at its Bayou Bend campus, establish its new Department of Arts of the Islamic Worlds and provide support for many special exhibitions, among them The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800-1920 (2007). He helped to fund the International Center for the Arts of the Americas and create the institution's first planned giving society. Under his aegis, the museum saw double-digit growth of its membership and annual giving programs.
Paul Johnson was later the Senior Vice President for Business Development and Director of Sotheby's Los Angeles. He also served as Deputy Director for External Affairs at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Director of Development at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Most recently, Johnson worked with the Getty Foundation and Research Institute as a consultant on fundraising for the enormously complex 2011 project Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, a first-time collaboration of more than 40 visual and performing arts institutions throughout Southern California.
Jennifer Russell Named Associate Director for Exhibitions at MMABy STAN PARCHIN
March 10, 2010
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| The Metropolitan Museum of Art (exterior) (2006). Photograph courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. |
New York's
Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today the appointment of Jennifer Russell as its new Associate Director for Exhibitions, effective April 26, 2010. A former staff member, she succeeds Mahrukh Tarapor, who held the position for more than 15 years.
ExperienceJennifer Russell began her museum career in 1974 as a curatorial assistant at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She was Assistant Curator from 1976 to 1978, Special Assistant to the Director for Curatorial Affairs from 1978 to 1980, Assistant Director from 1980 to 1986 and Associate Director and Secretary from 1986 to 1990 (a role she returned to in 1992 after a year's service, from 1990 to 1991, as Acting Director). She also served as Deputy Director for Internal Affairs and Secretary to the Board of Trustees until her departure from the Whitney in 1993. Russell was responsible for a number of special exhibitions, including
American Art, 1900-1940 (1976),
American Folk Painters of Three Centuries (1980),
Celebrating Calder (1991) and
Selections from the Permanent Collection, 1938-1946 (1993).
As Associate Director for Administration at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1993 to 1996, Russell coordinated activities for all departments reporting to the Director, including curatorial, conservation, publications and the libraries. Among her projects were many related to construction and space planning for major gallery renovations, other capital initiatives and the computerization of collection data.
Russell joined the Museum of Modern Art in 1996 as its Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Collections Support. She was promoted in 2005 to Senior Deputy Director for Exhibitions, Collections and Programs. In this capacity, she oversees MoMA's annual program of more than 30 shows and develops collaborations with other museums in the United States and abroad on jointly organized exhibitions. She helped the staff planning and design team for the museum's 2004 expansion and oversaw the permanent collection's move to and from MoMA Queens, including its schedule of reinstallation in the new Manhattan building.
Thomas P. Campbell, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, said, "I am delighted to welcome back a colleague with extensive experience in the New York museum community and in exhibition planning on a local as well as national and international scale. Jennifer Russell brings significant managerial experience, sound sense and wide-ranging contacts, all of which are essential to sustaining and developing the encyclopedic breath, scale and quality of the Met's unique and world-renowned exhibition program."
Karl E. Willers Appointed Director of Nassau County Museum of ArtBy STAN PARCHIN
March 5, 2010
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| Karl E. Willers. Photograph provided by Nassau County Museum of Art. |
The
Nassau County Museum of Art (NCMA) announced today the appointment of Karl. E. Willers as its new Director. He succeeds Constance Schwartz, now the museum's Director Emeritus who will be engaged in fundraising for NCMA's capital campaign.
EducationKarl Emil Willers earned his B.A. from the College of Wooster and his M.B.A. in management and Ph.D. in art history from Yale University. The recipient of many awards and fellowships, Dr. Willers' academic interests lie in American and European art from the late 18th Century to the present.
ExperienceWillers was Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art's Downtown Branch during the 1980s. There he organized many special exhibitions of 20th-century American art. Following completion of his doctorate, he returned to the museum as its Associate Curator and Administrative Coordinator for
The American Century: Art and Culture 1950-2000 (1999-2000). He later worked as Chief Curator and Curator of European Art at the Norton Museum of Art, Curator at the Samuel Dorsky Museum at the State University of New York-New Paltz and Executive Director of the Newport Art Museum.