Long Island's arts scene steps into fall

The arts scene on Long Island steps into a new season with an international flavor. Fall exhibits at area museums showcase a breadth of artistic visions. From Nassau County Museum of Art’s bilingual exhibits to Hofstra University Museum’s collection of the nature-inspired works of Chinese artist Cui Fei, there’s much to see at our local museums. Here are some highlights.

Spanish visions at Nassau County Museum of Art
Hispanic Heritage Month is commemorated at Nassau County Museum of Art in the form of three shows, highlighted by Francisco Goya’s “Los Caprichos” in the main gallery.

This exhibit features an early first edition of Los Caprichos, a set of 80 etchings by the renowned artist that was published in 1799, and is regarded as one of the most influential series of graphic images in the history of Western art.
Along with this exhibit, visitors can see a display of works by Uruguayan artist Rimer Cardillo, “Journadas de la memoria,” highlighted by a full-gallery installation called “Birds of Clay, Oil and Ashes Cupi.” This sculpted installation measures 6’ 7” high by 9’ 10” wide, and is made of embossed handmade paper woven between threads, and multiple hand-painted photo-screens printed with oil, clay, and ashes on paper. Other works on display feature images of cimarrones and criollos (wild dogs and native horses of Uruguay) on digital photographs. Cardillo draws influences from the landscape and environment of both his native Uruguay and of the Hudson Valley area. His work often reflects his concern over the demise of native people, plants, and animals around the world.
The third component of the museum’s look at Spanish classicism’s influence on Hispanic art is the contemporary group exhibit, “Exploraciones Contemporaneas,” with works by Brazil’s Vik Muniz, the Cuban-American artist who goes by DEMI, Argentina’s Manuel Esnoz, and Dario Escobar of Guatemala. Muniz’s collaborative work with the impoverished landfill “pickers” of Brazil, mixing art with social consciousness, was the subject of “Waste Land,” an Academy Award-nominated documentary. DEMI is acclaimed for her innovative techniques, while Esnoz’s art is comprised of separate parts that come together in a pattern. Escobar creates a 21st century version of sculptural pop art using such materials as deflated soccer balls and skateboards, especially popular with the museum’s younger visitors.
“This group of artists show similarities as well as diversity of artistic practice,” said Laura Lynch, the museum’s director of education. “People know Goya well but probaby less familiar with these contemporary artist and will learn how contemporary artists. They will learn how they have interpreted Goya’s themes. These exhibits juxtapose varied styles of art. We are making a connection from the past to the present, from 1797 to 2011.”
Los Caprichos – on display in the museum’s downstairs galleries – demonstrates the darker side of the master artist and printmaker, the court painter to the Spanish Crown, who as Lynch described, “is one of the most important artists in the history of art.”
“Capricho” can be translated as a whim, a fantasy or an expression of imagination. In Goya’s use of the term, the meaning deepens, binding an ironical layer of humor over one of the most profound indictments of human vice ever set on paper.
Enigmatic and controversial, Los Caprichos was created in a time of social repression and economic crisis in Spain. Influenced by Enlightenment thinking, Goya set out to analyze the human condition and denounce social abuses and superstitions. The series attests to the artist's political liberalism and to his revulsion at ignorance and intellectual oppression, mirroring his ambivalence toward authority and the church.
“From painting traditional portraits of royalty, Goya crossed over into Los Caprichos,” said Lynch. “It was very emotional and expressed a different aspect of human nature. Goya went from reality to convey emotions through the application of printmaking. These are not beautiful pieces; there is a satirical element to his depiction of people’s faces and bodies. He was creating these at a time when Spain was losing its glory and power. He looked at the corruption around him and became cynical in his vision of people around him.”
In his essay accompanying the exhibition, Robert Flynn Johnson, curator in charge, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, stated:
“Francisco Goya should be seen as the first modern artist – he chose to go beyond depictions of religion, mythology, and history, and even beyond observation of the visible world, turning instead toward the psychological demons that have always inhabited men’s souls. Until Goya, these demons had rarely been made artistically visible – Goya had the courage and the genius to depict them. Los Caprichos stands as the greatest single work of art created in Spain since the writings of Cervantes and the paintings of Velázquez over 150 years earlier.”
Small in size, the 4x6 etchings are displayed next to enlarged images of the works for easier viewing. “We really want this exhibit to be approachable to groups,” explained Lynch. “This way everyone can examine the details.”
As always, in conjunction with its exhibits, the museum offers public programs to enhance the viewing experience. These include a family event, Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), on Sunday, Oct. 29, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. The museum invites families to celebrate the Latin American holiday with interactive exhibit tours, traditional Dia de los Muertos arts and crafts, and a costume parade.
All three exhibits remain on view through Nov. 27.
Nassau County Museum of Art is located at 1 Museum Dr. (just off Northern Blvd., Route 25A), Roslyn Harbor. Admission is $10, $8 seniors (62+), $4 for children. Due to space limitations, reservations are needed for events. Call (516) 484-9337 or visit www.nassaumuseum.org.

Reinterpreting Nature at Hofstra University Museum
Hofstra University’s Rosenberg Gallery highlights the works of Chinese artist Cui Fei, through Oct. 26. Nature is a recurring theme in Fei’s art. Visitors will see how natural objects, such as tendrils, twigs and thorns, evoke the flowing forms of Chinese calligraphy. By using natural forms that seem to pre-exist the written text, Cui creates formations that can be interpreted as mysterious messages from nature.
The pieces in this exhibition are from two of Fei’s ongoing projects – Tracing the Origin and her calendar-based work.
Chinese writing originated from nature as ideograms and the characters grew simplified over time, separating from their original context and becoming abstracted. With her Tracing the Origin series, Fei’s work abstracts nature even further. Working with grape vine tendrils, she created two-dimensional works of varying scale and color as well as three-dimensional works made with a variety of materials. Different media and modes of presentation used in this series, such as printmaking and installation, are intended to symbolize how Chinese written characters have become detached from their origin; and by inference, how humans have also detached themselves from nature.
Read by Touch and Not Yet Titled are from a series of her calendar-based works. Read by Touch refers to her personal history and the latter alludes to recent historic events. Fei explores the relationship of human beings and nature, almost as if she were translating letters from nature herself.
“Re-Interpreting Nature, New Work by Cui Fei” is on display at the Rosenberg Gallery, Room 136, in Calkins Hall on Hofstra’s South Campus.
Hofstra’s other fall exhibit, “Burton Silverman: The Humanist Spirit,” demonstrates the continuing power of the realist tradition in the 21st century.
Through Silverman’s use of contemporary realist portraiture, the exhibit examines the commonalities of existence of “everyman.” Silverman, who paints on his own terms, has rejected the abstract and conceptual art movements of the mid-20th century to continue to paint in a contemporary version of the 19th century realist style. He has stated, “Very early in life, I fell in love with the landscape of the human face, where all the emotional states of life are to be found.”
His works can be viewed through Dec. 16 at the Emily Lowe Gallery in Emily Lowe Hall on Hofstra’s South Campus. For more information on both exhibits, call (516) 463-5672 or visit www.hofstra.edu/museum.