Friday, Jan 25, 2013
Rider University Art Gallery Exhibit is February 7 - March 3
by Anne Sears
The Rider University Art Gallery will present an exhibit of paintings by Geoffrey Dorfman titled “Eye and Mind” Thursday, February 7 through Sunday, March 3, 2013. An opening reception is Thursday, February 3 from 5 to 7p.m., and Gallery Director Harry I. Naar will lead a talk with the artist on Thursday, February 14 at 7p.m.
Artist, writer and musician, Geoffrey Dorfman is an associate professor at the College of Staten Island (CUNY). He is the author of several articles on painting for ArtForum, as well as the book Out of the Picture: Milton Resnick and the New York School. Recipient of the Henry Ward Ranger prize from the National Academy of Design, he was also awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Individual Fellowship Grant. Mr. Dorfman has curated numerous exhibitions, most recently “Hans Hoffman: The Legacy” at The Painting Center.
An exhibition of Dorfman’s work at the Painting Center in New York City received stellar reviews. The Brooklyn Rail praised his commitment to “ the notion of the classic brush stroke, the sensual rebound and multitude of responses possible...”
Essayist and curator Lilly Wei wrote about Dorfman’s paintings, “I am sure he sees and experiences more when confronted by color and paint than most of us do, an observation based on the way he talks about painting and by the paintings he makes.”
Reflecting on the role of color in his art, Dorfman said, “Fine oil paint, the kind I grew up with, is not just color. Some paints are grainy, mineral and weigh a ton; some are honey and vegetal; some offer friction to the brush, some apply with ease. The oil, the color, the brushwork; all of that is the sensuous aspect, the feeling part. Over time the surface gets increasingly complex and catches light rather than reflects it; this affects your experience of color as well and gives it dimension.”
“Color is never disembodied like it is on a computer screen, but always trapped in ‘stuff.’ This material is really a colored dirt, but it holds within it the colors of the sun and sky as well as that of plants and viscera. It provides everything you need to create a world that, complete within itself, unlocks the sensation of ‘being’ that lies at the root of our existence. The trick is to sustain these sensations so that the painting is fully imbued with them. These feelings are universal; they’re not personal. You catch them in the paint only after it has passed through you, so you’re not so much creating these sensations as recognizing them when they occur.”
In the realm of music, Dorfman has performed in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Bechstein Hall, the Marjorie Deane Little Theater at the Westside YMCA, Columbia University, the Cooper Union and at Great Britain’s Marlborough Summer Festival.
Admission to this exhibit is free. The Rider University Art Gallery is located in the Bart Luedeke Center on Rider’s campus at 2083 Lawrenceville Rd in Lawrenceville. The gallery is open Tuesday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday noon to 4 p.m. To learn more visit the Rider Art Gallery or call (609) 895-5588.
This exhibition is funded in part by a grant from the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Department of State and PNC Bank.