MCLA GALLERY 51 TO FEATURE ABSTRACT ART

NORTH ADAMS, MA – Beginning on Thursday, Feb. 28, MCLA Gallery 51 will
focus on abstract art with an opening reception for “Preternatural
Selection,” 5-7 p.m., in the downtown gallery.The public is invited to
attend this free event.

“This show will consist of an extraordinary collection of art,” gallery
manager, Sean Riley said. “I’m excited about this exhibition. These
artists are all young, emerging talents in their 20s who are beginning to
exhibit their work in galleries across the country.”

“Preternatural  Selection” will include paintings and sculpture made using abstraction as
a tool. The exhibition’s five artists will present unusual and synthetic
images that rely on a close relationship with the natural or experienced
world, according to the show’s guest curator, Jessica Slaven.
“

These documents recall private and contemplative experience while
refusing the politics of transcendence, creating a beautiful, pragmatic
and paraobjective language,” Slaven said. “The show’s title, Preternatural
Selection, describes the way in which these artists select the prevailing
motifs, functions, or manners of different systems of representation and
merge them innovatively to produce a fluent, powerful, and superior means
of statement.”

Slaven is a New York-based artist and author of a
forthcoming article in “Paper Monument,” which discusses contemporary
urban earthworks. A graduate of The Art Institute of Chicago, the
University of Pennsylvania, and Skowhegan, Slaven recently showed her
artwork at Brooklyn Fireproof and David Krut Projects in New York City. 

The artists for “Preternatural Selection” include Lisha Bai, Hanna Sandin
and Roger White of New York City; Jon Rajkovich of Los Angeles; and Hunter
Stabler of Philadelphia. The exhibition will run through March 23. MCLA
Gallery 51 is at 51 Main St., North Adams. The Gallery is open daily, 10
a.m. to 6 p.m.  For more information, 413-664-8718, or go to www.mcla.edu/Gallery51 .