May 17, 2023
Two new exhibitions are set to open in tandem on June 7 at the Shirley Fiterman Art Center (SFAC) located in Fiterman Hall at 81 Barclay Street. The artists—Abby Donovan, “The Colors are Like Words That Are Not Words” and Midori Harima, “This is Not a Mirror”—will both appear at an opening reception that will include an artist talk on June 7 from 6 to 8 p.m. at SFAC.
Donovan’s work will be presented in the North Galley while Harima’s will be on display in the South Gallery. Both exhibitions will run through August 5.
Abby Donovan: “The Colors Are Like Words That Are Not Words but Colors”
Abby Donovan’s solo exhibition is comprised of constructions of colored glass and large-scale imagery created by projecting through the stained-glass works. Donovan’s project delves into intricate interactions between glass and light and human perception.
This installation is imbued with complex ideas about vision, optics, language, and philosophy which Donovan distills into the jewel-like, three-dimensional objects resembling crumpled stained-glass cathedral windows, and their large-scale projections. The resulting experience is of works that are simultaneously solid and ephemeral, magically static and fugitive. The relation between the object and the transmission of light through it creates constantly variable discoveries that continually change.
This is the first exhibition of Donovan’s glass compositions. Her works and collaborative projects, which reach across disciplines and employ innovative approaches that foster an open sense of creativity and cooperation, have been shown widely.
Midori Harima: “This is A Mirror”
Harima’s installation will feature video, photography, printmaking, and sculptural works that investigate aspects of originality and reproduction, ephemerality and permanence as well as human consumption and value systems.
Harima is a Japanese artist currently based in Kanagawa, Japan. Previously, she lived in the United States for 16 years, first on the West Coast, then in New York City. She returned to Japan in 2017.
Through living in the United States, Midori found “a plurality of self,” redefining her concept of “I” as not one, but a multiplicity. This thought process led to her increasing interest in printmaking, which became the basis for her video work “This is a Mirror, after Camnitzer.” Her title is a reference to “This is a Mirror, You Are a Written Sentence” from 1966-68, by Luis Camnitzer, a pioneering figure of conceptual art and noted printmaker. A print is created through the contact between two things–a plate or a screen and a sheet of paper, and for Harima the essence of that process reflects the state of being a foreigner.
For more information about both exhibitions, visit the Shirley Fiterman Art Center website.
Strategic Plan Note. Delete box if blank.
- Donovan’s show is “The Colors and Like Words That Are Not Words”
- Harima’s show is “This is Not a Mirror”
- Both artists will appear at opening reception on June 7
