Michiko Itatani at City University of New York
Incandescence: The Chandelier in Contemporary Art
September 5th, 2024 - January 4th, 2025
City University of New York
Lehman College Art Gallery, 250 Bedford Park Blvd W, Bronx, NY 10468
Shirley Fiterman Art Center, 81 Barclay Street, New York, NY 10007
Hall of Fame Art Gallery, 2155 University Avenue, Bronx, New York 10453
Three City University of New York (CUNY) art galleries—the Shirley Fiterman Art Center at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC); the Lehman College Art Gallery and the Hall of Fame Art Gallery at Bronx Community College (BCC)—are co-presenting an exhibition, Incandescence that traces the motif of the chandelier in contemporary art.
An opening reception is held at BMCC’s Shirley Fiterman Art Center, 81 Barclay Street, New York, NY 10007 on September 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibition will be available for viewing at BMCC through January 4, 2025.
Support for Incandescence: The Chandelier in Contemporary Art at Lehman College Art Gallery has been made possible in part by supporters including the Charina Foundation, Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation, Edith and Herbert Lehman Foundation, Keith Haring Foundation, The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Art as a Third Dimension, New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and New York City Council Members Eric Dinowitz, Oswald Feliz, Kristy Marmorato, and Kevin C. Riley.
Recent Press in Artforum:
Michiko Itatani’s New York Solo Debut at Storage
March 2024 – By Darren Jones
Michiko Itatani’s exhibition here, “Cosmic Encounters,” presented ten large-scale oil paintings, completed between 2006 and 2023, featuring imagery the Japanese-born and longtime Chicago-based artist is known for, including majestic amphitheaters beneath nighttime skies, and richly decorated interiors of libraries, cathedrals, and concert halls. At the center of these spaces, positioned high up, were rings of luminescent orbs and chandeliers that had similar multicolored disks cascading from them. In most instances, an array of globes were placed around the rooms’ perimeters or encircle star charts laid into the floors. Architectural details—such as arches and Escher-like staircases, rendered with exaggerated perspectives—tempted the viewer to peer more deeply into the many recesses and passageways of these enigmatic scenes.
At first glance, Itatani’s inscrutable tableaux appeared uninhabited, evoking the unsettling eeriness of being alone in silent, empty arenas that are intended for great audiences and spectacular events. (One wondered, were we meant to be waiting for some revelatory arrival in these settings? Or more of a sinister departure?) Upon closer inspection, the viewer realized that, in three paintings of the artist’s opera-house auditoriums, the tiered boxes were populated by shadowy, humanlike forms. One of these works, “Untitled” painting from Rainmaker 06-C-10(RM-7), 2006, with its towering, bloodred facade and radiating lights, was a stunning combination of celebration and nightmare.
-
Opening Reception
6-8pm
Thursday, September 5thShirley Fiterman Art Center
81 Barclay Street
New York, NY 10007 -
Michiko Itatani (b. 1948, Japan) is a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she is professor emeritus of painting. Itatani has received numerous prestigious awards, including the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, two Illinois Arts Council Artist’s Fellowships, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Her work is held in the public collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago; Daum Museum of Contemporary Art in Sedalia, Missouri; Wright Museum in Beloit, Wisconsin; Erie Art Museum in Erie, Pennsylvania; Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland; American Embassy Permanent Collection in Brasilia, Brazil; Villa-Haiss-Museum in Zell am Harmersback, Germany; Tokoha Museum in Shizuoka, Japan; National Museum of Contemporary Art in Korea; the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ) in Québec, Canada; Museu D’art Contemporani (MACBA) in Barcelona, Spain; and others.