The Fort Wayne Museum of Art unveils its most recent curator collaboration on May 11 with Brilliant Optics: A Spectrum of Mediums andColor, curated by Fort Wayne artist Josef Zimmerman.
The exhibition features work by contemporary artists from across the country who use color in their work as a tool to communicate with the viewer. In short, vibrancy is the key to this show.
This exhibit revolves around a single word, color, a simple word but a complex theme. This concept was the guiding force for Zimmerman’s curatorial journey throughout the United States to find the most adventurous use of color by today’s artists. What he found in the best work was that great use of color transcended mediums, and that subject matter and genre wouldn’t be the things unifying the work.
Nine artists from four states, Australia, and Canada use acrylic, oil, screen-printing, aerosol, photography and ink to demonstrate Zimmerman’s cohesive vision of color. With this vision of unbound color to govern his curating, an unexpected pattern started to emerge from this collection of work. Because of the bold colors, each artist’s subject matter was that much more active and dynamic, forming a kinship between these artists that until this exhibition, was unknown.
Zimmerman says, “Color has the power to seduce us and the power to repulse us. What we know is that color can be a powerful symbol that plays a critical role our visual world. Color makes us love things we see or it can do the opposite. Like an upbeat song with heartbreaking lyrics, bright, bold color can dramatically alter how we perceive the subject matter of artwork.”
Brilliant Optics will be on display at FWMoA from May 11 – July 14, 2014. On May 11 at
6:30pm, the show’s public debut will be celebrated with a panel discussion led by Zimmerman and selected artists in the show. A party with cash bar and food by Calhoun Street Soups, Salads, and Spirits will follow. Admission is $5 to the event, and free for FWMoA members.
About the Fort Wayne Museum of Art: Beginning with art classes in 1888 given by J. Ottis Adams and later William Forsyth, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art has evolved into a center for the visual arts community in Northeast Indiana. Regularly exhibiting regional and nationally acclaimed artists, the FWMoA also boasts an extensive permanent collection of American Art as well as prints and drawings from artists such as Jackson
Pollock and Andy Warhol. The Museum is committed to the collection, preservation, presentation and interpretation of American and related art to engage broad and diverse audiences throughout the community and region, and add value to their lives. The Fort Wayne Museum of Art is a funded partner of Arts United of Greater
Fort Wayne.
