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The Chazan Gallery at Wheeler
228 Angell Street
Closed for the May Gallery Night

The Chazan Gallery at Wheeler, a nonprofit artists' space, presents a wide range of contemporary work in exhibitions by artists living or working in the greater Providence area. Artists are selected through an open juried process. Located on the East Side of Providence near Brown University and RISD, the gallery is on the campus of Wheeler School.

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David Winton Bell Gallery
at Brown University List Art Center
64 College Street
April 10–May 25, 2008
Walid Raad: We Can Make Rain But No One Came to Ask

May 15 one night only
Jacqueline Wachter and Octavia Giovannini-Torelli: In Faith of Graffiti
6pm-10pm List Art Building grounds
Celebration of art, music and dance

We Can Make Rain But No One Came to Ask is a project by Walid Raad, a Lebanese-born artist who lives and works in New York. Featured in the main gallery, the project is comprised of a 17-minute video and a series of 43 photographs. The project deals with the history of car bombing in the Lebanese wars. The video, presented as a large, panoramic projection, is about the collaboration between two imaginary characters Yussef Bitar, a state investigator of car bomb detonation, and Georges Semerdijian, a fearless photojournalist investigating a specific detonation in Beirut in 1986. Focusing on diagrams, notes, videotapes, and photographs used by this collaborative team, the video unfolds as a fictional narrative yet in a manner of documentary story. In addition, the series of 43 inkjet prints—grouped in four separate folios, each with an introductory narrative and photographic plates with text, and placed on tables like archival materials—explores further the treatment of historical events as both factual and imaginary, truthful and made-up. The allusive title, We Can Make Rain But No One Came to Ask, refers to the impossibility of prognosis, less in terms of weather conditions, and more in terms of the future historical, geo-political, and cultural conditions.

I Feel A Great Desire to Meet the Masses Once Again is another project by Raad, conceived specifically for the List Art Center lobby. Attributed to a fictional character, Elly Boueri, this large four-part mural depicts the post 9/11 sociopolitical landscape. The background of each of the mural’s parts is painted in a different shade of blue, referencing the sky over New York on September 11, 2001, and foreshadowing the subsequent changes of political climate. The rough, sketchy drawings are digitally manipulated courtroom drawings that Raad compiled for a number of years after 9/11, left intentionally unfinished to remain ambiguous in origin and reference. Raad is best known as a founder of the Atlas Group, an imaginary foundation whose aim is to research and document the contemporary history of Lebanon. The Atlas Group projects involve the creation of fictional documentation of the civil war and political conflict in Beirut between1986 and 2004, blurring the line between historical facts and constructed narratives. In the Atlas projects, Raad investigates how historical events of the past are re-written, re-interpreted and disseminated in the present.

Born in Chbanieh, Lebanon, in 1967, Raad grew up in the mostly Christian sector of East Beirut. After finishing his master and doctoral studies at the University of Rochester, NY, he moved to New York City. He joined the Cooper Union faculty in 2002, teaching film, video, photography, and installation.

Raad’s work has been presented in 2002 at Documenta 11, Kassel, and the Whitney Biennial; in 2003 at the Venice Biennale; in 2004 at York University, Toronto and the Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, Ill.; in 2005 at the Reynolds Gallery, London, and FACT, Liverpool; in 2006 at Concordia University, Montreal, the Kitchen, New York, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle and Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; and in 2007, Migros Museum fur Gegenwartskunst, Zurich. In 2008, Raad’s work has been featured in Archive Fever: Uses of the Document in Contemporary Art at the International Center of Photography in New York.

“In Faith of Graffiti”
Brown University seniors, Jacqueline Wachter and Octavia Giovannini-Torelli, are excited to announce their pivotal exhibition on graffiti.
Synopsis: Over the past semester, we have begun an exploration of graffiti in a Group Independent Study Project (GISP) inspired by the illustrious Norman Mailer text, “The Faith of Graffiti.” As a final project we have decided to celebrate the evolution of this dynamic art form by curating an exhibition. It will serve to examine the extent to which the graffiti aesthetic has matured and the ways that it has permeated the commercial art world and the world of the mass produced.

The Gist of Our Gisp: Graffiti is defined as words or drawings, scratched or scribbled on a wall but in the last 50 years it has come to define a continually evolving artistic style. A movement so full of blood and meat, yet so controversial serves as the perfect subject to contemplate as seniors. We knew our study would not end in a declarative thesis but would be an exploration, which would provoke and challenge us. We have spent the semester examining the legitimacy and prevalence of the graffiti aesthetic and the ways in which it has become a staple of contemporary culture. From the onset graffiti has had the power to evoke reactions. Because of this inherently explosive quality, graffiti merits a forum, in which it can be discussed, probed and celebrated as a form of art. As art historians, this conversation manifested itself in the form of this exhibition.

In Faith of Graffiti: Our journey begins in a post-industrial New York amongst oppressed people searching for forms of legitimacy and authenticity: a means of establishing an identity in an excluding urban landscape. Graffiti artists began to tag, literally inscribing their names on the surface of the city as a form of self- expression. It was a form of rebellion but it was also a form of communication. The MTA and the mayor of New York believed these actions to be criminal while the art community was more welcoming and the owners of white- walled galleries saw dollar signs. We have studied these reactions, surrounding the birth of graffiti.
It was New York in the 1980’s. The South Bronx was a fusion of dance, music and color as break-dancing, graffiti and hip hop sprung to life from its sidewalks. While graffiti writers were accused of decimating their surroundings, the public as well as the press, embraced artists like Basquiat and Keith Haring. This exhibition will attempt to re-vitalize the energy of this moment in time and re-contextualize it in the contemporary world. We will aim to show how such a provocative form of art, communication, unification and rebellion has become such an influential artistic genre.

Please join us in this celebration of art, music and dance at the List Art Building on May 15th, 2008 from 6-10pm. The musical stylings of a hip hop DJ will fill the air. His old school tunes will set the pace for break-dancers. The rhythm, flow and rupture of the music and dance, will complement the visual aesthetic of graffiti, which will be articulated in many forms throughout the space.

About Octavia and Jackie: Since we met, when together, we have sought a challenge. The process of curating an exhibition on such a highly disputed art form has resulted in our greatest challenge yet and our past experiences have prepared us for this point. Not only were we both raised amongst art lovers, museum-goers, historians, dealers, artists and collectors, who schooled us on the greats, but as we both grew older we pursued these interests in academic, extra- curricular and professional environments. Together we have embarked on an array of endeavors and learned we work well together, each bringing out the others drive and enthusiasm as well as critical capabilities. As art history concentrators interested in the processes of museums and galleries, both of us since a young age, have been impassioned by the history, perceptions, display and consumption of art. Our partnership and past experiences are reflected in the realization of “In Faith of Graffiti.”

Among the premier contemporary art venues in New England, the David Winton Bell Gallery presents exhibitions focusing on internationally recognized artists and contemporary trends. The international focus is balanced by an annual student show, a triennial faculty exhibition, and an annual exhibition of work by New England artists.

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John Brown House Museum
of the Rhode Island Historical Society
52 Power Street
Free Admission Gallery Night, To R.S.V.P.: Dalila Goulart
(401) 331-8575 x45 or programs@rihs.org

Thursday, May 15, 6:30 p.m.
If These Walls Could Talk… The John Brown House in Their Absence
Tonight, experience a truly artistic Gallery Night at the John Brown House Museum. Katherine Mangiardi, a Masters of Fine Arts student at RISD, has been working on an art installation and other pieces which reference and play with both the space and history of the house. Her work is homage to the women, specifically Abigail Brown, affiliated with the Brown family in the late 18th century. Mangiardi explains that her “work brings a feeling of an intense female life to the upstairs bedroom of the John Brown House, where Abigail’s wedding reception was held in 1788. Various excerpts from women’s letters about Abigail and Abigail’s own diary are juxtaposed with different pieces to create a feeling of feminine introspection and quiet grace. My own history attempts to fill in the blanks where voids in information about these women exist. I invite the viewer to do the same.”

Visit the John Brown House Museum to see and hear the stories of Rhode Island's history as told through the lives of the inhabitants of this “most magnificent mansion”, built in 1788. View artwork from the eighteenth century and follow the Voyage of the Slave Ship Sally in our gallery.

Founded in 1822, the Rhode Island Historical Society is the nation's fourth oldest state historical society and is today the steward of some 30,000 artifacts and 500,000 library items. The Society maintains its research library and John Brown House Museum in Providence and operates the Museum of Work & Culture in Woonsocket. The Society's ongoing public and educational programming includes publication of the historical journal Rhode Island History and the presentation of exhibitions, lectures, workshops, and tours.

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The Krause Gallery at Moses Brown
250 Lloyd Avenue
May 13th – 30th
Jody Wells : painting
Helena Stockar : painting
Located in Moses Brown School on Providence's East Side, The Krause Gallery is dedicated to exhibiting a broad spectrum of contemporary artists' work.

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Providence Art Club
11 Thomas Street
Receptions Sunday, May 18, 2-5pm

Maxwell Mays Gallery
April 27–May 16, 2008
Merlin Szasz and Dean Richardson

Dodge House Gallery
Melissa Brown: Emerging Edges
May 18–June 6, 2008
William Heydt, Johanna McKenzie and Lanny Parker: Three Perspectives

Founded in 1880 to stimulate the appreciation of art in the community, the Providence Art Club has long been a place for artists and art patrons to congregate, create, display and circulate works of art. Through its public programs, its art instruction classes for members and its active exhibition schedule, the Club continues a tradition of sponsoring and supporting the visual arts in Providence and throughout Rhode Island.

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The RISD Museum of Art
224 Benefit Street
Events Every Gallery Night at The RISD Museum
• Anytime between 5:30 and 8 pm : Join us at our drop-in workshop For Adults Only:a free art lesson! Receive one-on-one instruction from a professional artist/educator. Materials are provided; no experience is necessary.

• 6 to 8:30 pm, enjoy a drink at our Cash Wine Bar.

• 6 pm - Curator Gallery Talk: Edo Theater: The Drama of Kabuki
Kabuki theater thrived in Edo-period (1603-1867) Japan. It had all of the necessary elements for successful and popular stage performance: dramatic narrative, music, vocals, and dance. The prints in this exhibition convey some of the excitement and pleasure that kabuki theatergoers experience to this day. Learn more about these exciting objects and the culture of the "floating world," the world of entertainment and pleasure that evolved as part of Edo-period Japanese society, in this gallery talk by Deborah Del Gais, Curator of Asian Art.

• 7 pm + repeated at 7:30 pm- Screening: The Art of Kabuki
This 30 minute documentary, The Art of Kabuki, introduces the traditions of Kabuki and explains its origins, purposes, and symbolism.

• 7 pm, you may take a Visita Guiada en Espa–ol/Guided Museum Tour in Spanish: un gu’a docente le invita a recorrer las galer’as del Museo; esta visita guiada es gratis y empieza en el Farago Lobby del Museo (meet in the Farago Lobby.) We also offer a 7 pm Gallery Tour for the Public.

EXHIBITS

Edo Theater: The Drama of Kabuki
Through Sunday, May 18, 2008
Kabuki theater developed in the 17th century and is closely identified with the culture of the "floating world," the world of entertainment and pleasure that evolved as part of Edo-period (1603-1867) Japanese society. The prints in this exhibition include 18th- and 19th-century depictions of actors and the theater. Evolution Revolution: The Arts and Crafts in Contemporary Fashion and Textiles

Through Sunday, June 15, 2008
Designers from the United States, Britain, Europe, and Japan have led the way for a new arts and crafts spirit in fashion and clothing. This exhibition explores ways in which fashion and textiles are a reflection of changing attitudes about design and consumption. Similar in philosophy with the late nineteenth-century British Arts and Crafts movement, contemporary designers are seeking ways to unify technology with the creative process. Although there is no single aesthetic or style, design since the 1990s has been informed by rapidly changing technology amidst concerns for social issues ranging from sustainability, labor injustices, independence from mainstream industry, and community building.

Styrofoam
Through Sunday, July 20, 2008
Styrofoam (extruded or expanded polystyrene) is a material known for its resistance to moisture and its buoyancy. Its uses range widely from building insulation and model-building to product packaging and coffee cups. In recent years, artists have used Styrofoam in a variety of new and ingenious ways. Taking advantage of the material's lightness, cheapness, and facility for shaping, they carve into it, mold it, and assemble it into entirely new forms and images. The artists' adaptation or transformation of Styrofoam often contrasts with its original intended function, and environmental concerns about use and reuse may be implicit in some of the artworks. This exhibition features works by artists who have experimented with Styrofoam, expanding definitions of what painting, sculpture, and photography can be in the process. Artists represented are: Heide Fasnacht, Tony Feher, Tom Friedman, Folkert de Jong, Steve Keister, Sol LeWitt, Bruce Pearson, Shirley Tse, Richard Tuttle, and B. Wurtz.

British Watercolors in the Porcelain Gallery
Through Sunday, May 4
Since 1937, the Museum's Porcelain Gallery has been home to an outstanding group of 18th Century figural ceramics donated to the Museum by Miss Lucy Truman Aldrich. Now, a selection from the Museum's excellent collection of 18th and 19th century British watercolors will be on view alongside the ceramics, complementing the gallery's Georgian paneling of the same era. The RISD Museum has one of the finest collections of British landscape watercolors in this country, due to the remarkable generosity of an anonymous donor. Comprising over 900 sheets, the collection includes nearly all of the major practitioners. Beginning in January, the walls of the Porcelain Gallery will exhibit selections from the collection on a rotating basis.

Permanent Collection Galleries: Ongoing

Ancient and Medieval Galleries
Galleries housing Greek sculptures, vases, and coins, Roman frescoes, mosaics, sculptures, and jewelry, and Etruscan bronzes lead to the Medieval gallery, which includes a 12th-century sculpture from the Third Abbey Church of Cluny, France

Egyptian Galleries
The Museum's Egyptian galleries feature the coffin and mummy of the priest Nesmin, burial objects, sculptures, and faience.

The Buddha and Asian Galleries
The nine-foot Buddha Dainichi Nyorai, from a medieval temple west of Kyoto, occupies its own gallery, while selections from the Museum's extensive collections of Asian textiles, ceramics, sculpture, and Japanese prints are exhibited in a series of adjacent spaces dedicated to their display.

A Grand Gallery: European Paintings from the Permanent Collection
The Main Gallery has reopened, returned to its original splendor. Illuminated by its skylights, this beautifully proportioned space displays the Museum's distinguished collection of European paintings from the Renaissance through the 19th century, many of which have not been on view for some time. The installation recalls the deeply stacked galleries of French and British salon exhibitions.
Rethinking the Romans: New Views of Ancient Sculpture
The Radeke Entrance features Roman sculpture, a subject that has been undergoing thorough scholarly reassessment for the last two decades. The installation explores the Museum's small but exceptional holdings in light of new research stressing the aspects unique to Roman culture in terms of the objects' meaning, use, and context.

Charles L. Pendleton House and Decorative Arts Galleries
Pendleton House, which opened in 1906, is the earliest example of an "American wing" in any museum. It features an extraordinary collection of 18th- and early 19th-century decorative arts and one of the finest American furniture collections in the country, including examples from the Townsend and Goddard circle of colonial Newport craftsmen. Paintings by American masters such as Copley, Stuart, Cole, and Sully also hang in Pendleton House. A major highlight of the department is furniture made by 18th-century Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Newport cabinetmakers. Also on view are fine examples of English pottery, Chinese export porcelain, and a comprehensive survey of American silver, including the Gorham Collection, and jewelry.

PERMANENT COLLECTION CHANGES: The Third Floor of the 1926 Radeke Building is currently undergoing dramatic renovation, transforming former office and collection spaces into new gallery space created by the expansion of the Museum into the Chace Center, opening September 2008. The RISD Museum houses over 80,000 works of art, ranging from ancient Greek and Roman sculpture to French Impressionist paintings, to contemporary art in every medium. The Museum's collection, including textiles, works on paper, ceramics, glass and furniture, is displayed in 45 galleries on three floors, tracing the history of art from antiquity to the 21st century.

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