September 7–December 31, 2017
UB Anderson Gallery
1 Martha Jackson Place
Buffalo, NY 14214
Hours: Wednesday–Saturday 11am–5pm, Sunday 1–5pm
UB Art Gallery, CFA
103 Center for the Arts
Buffalo, NY 14260
Hours: Tuesday-Friday 11am–5pm, Saturday 1–5pm
The UB Art Galleries presents Wanderlust: Actions, Traces, Journeys 1967-2017, one of the galleries’ largest and most ambitious contemporary art exhibitions to date. The exhibition opens at both the galleries’ locations on September 7, 2017, and then travels to the Des Moines Art Center in February 2018.
Wanderlust questions and explores the complex nature of artists as voyagers—those who depart their studio to create work outside of the confines of four walls. This exhibition is a comprehensive survey of the artist’s need to roam and the work that emerges from this need and allows viewers to experience 50 years of artistic practices that are intertwined while highlighting diverse approaches to contemporary art. The exhibition presents artists working as both solitary figures implanting themselves physically on or in the landscape while others perform and create movements in a collaborative manner or in front of an unsuspecting audience.
“Wanderlust showcases work by over 40 artists, with under-recognized and emerging artists alongside pioneers in the field of contemporary art,” said Rachel Adams, curator of Wanderlust and Senior Curator at UB Art Galleries. “Beginning with Richard Long’s A Line Made by Walking and Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Walking Sculpture, this exhibition has work representing every decade from the last 50 years and includes artists from the Western New York region and the United States as well as Canada, Italy, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, Palestine and Poland.”
Artists include Vito Acconci, Bas Jan Ader, Nevin Aladağ, Francis Alÿs, Janine Antoni, John Baldessari, Kim Beck, Roberley Bell, Blue Republic, Sophie Calle, Rosemarie Castoro, Cardiff/Miller, Millie Chen, Zoe Crosher, Fallen Fruit, David Hammons, Mona Hatoum, Nancy Holt, Kenneth Josephson, Allan Kaprow, William Lamson, Richard Long, Marie Lorenz, Mary Mattingly, Anthony McCall, Ana Mendieta, Teresa Murak, Wangechi Mutu, Efrat Natan, OHO, Gabriel Orozco, Carmen Papalia, John Pfahl, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Pope.L, Teri Rueb, Michael x. Ryan, Todd Shalom, Greg Stimac, Mary Ellen Strom, and Guido van der Werve.
Highlights include several new commissions: over 40 fruit trees planted as part of Fallen Fruit’s Endless Orchard in and around the Fruit Belt neighborhood in Buffalo; Marie Lorenz’s suspended installation Gyre—over 1,200 porcelain-cast found objects including ones collected from her boat trip down the Erie Canal; a new skywriting performance by Kim Beck; Untitled (Infinity Mirror)—a video work by William Lamson; and Still Visible, After Gezi by Roberley Bell, an investigative artwork where Bell scoured the streets of Istanbul in 2015 after the Gezi Park protests trying to find trees she had photographed originally in 2005 and 2010.
The exhibition will also feature outdoor participatory projects, allowing visitors to explore the city of Buffalo. Todd Shalom will lead a newly-commissioned walk; Teri Rueb’s newest GPS-based sound walk is located on Buffalo’s outer harbor at Times Beach, with a free app available for download; and Carmen Papalia—a visually-impaired artist will lead his Blind Field Shuttle in which the artist leads participants on eyes-closed walks.
Wanderlust is accompanied by a fully illustrated 272-page catalogue designed by Neil Donnelly Studio and published by the UB Art Galleries and MIT Press. It includes comprehensive texts by Rachel Adams, Jane McFadden and Lori Waxman and short texts about each artist written by a variety of art historians and curators.
Wanderlust: Actions, Traces, and Journeys 1967-2017 is organized by the University at Buffalo Art Galleries, Buffalo, New York and curated by Rachel Adams, Senior Curator. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Generous support for the exhibition and catalogue has also been provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Additional support comes from Charles Balbach and the Techne Institute for Arts and Emerging Technologies at the University at Buffalo with in-kind support provided by Squeaky Wheel Film and Media Art Center and Eleven Twenty Projects, Buffalo, NY.
About the UB Art Galleries
The University at Buffalo is privileged to have two art galleries dedicated to the university’s mission for academic excellence and service to the community. Each gallery presents a year-round series of exhibitions, providing students and the broader community easy access to thought-provoking art, visiting artists, and stimulating educational programs. In addition, the UB Art Galleries provide professional training for graduate and undergraduate students through internships and curatorial opportunities, and support faculty and student research.
The UB Art Galleries are supported by the UB College of Arts and Sciences, the Visual Arts Building Fund, the Anderson Gallery Fund and the Seymour H. Knox Foundation Fine Arts Fund. Hotel support is provided by the Doubletree Club by Hilton Buffalo Downtown.
Admission is free
For additional information and to request media images, please contact: Rachel Adams, Senior Curator of Exhibitions at radams4 [at] buffalo.edu or T 716 645 0570.
