‘Contemporary Art and the Future of Abstraction’ Subject of Symposium at Holy Cross

Contemporary art curators, gallery owners, and critics from across the nation will gather on the Holy Cross campus for a symposium titled “Contemporary Art and the Future of Abstraction” on Oct. 13 from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center, Room 519. The symposium is free and open to the public.

The symposium is organized in conjunction with the exhibition The Spiritual Landscapes of Adrienne Farb, 1980-2006, open through Dec. 16 in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at Holy Cross. Moderators will be Holy Cross faculty members Joanna E. Ziegler, professor of visual arts; and Christopher A. Dustin, associate professor and chair of the philosophy department. Ziegler and Dustin are the authors of Practicing Mortality: Art, Philosophy, and Contemplative Seeing (Palgrave MacMillan, 2005).

Symposium presenters will explore the future of abstract art in today’s world. Abstraction has been one of the most challenged forms of art, even to the point of being loathed by the public. Yet, abstraction once held the reigns of avant-garde art in the 20th century. Does abstract art have a future in an art world where, as one critic put it, “anything goes”?

“This remarkable gathering of professionals promises us rare insight into not only the past but what the future might look like — if indeed there is one — for abstraction as an artistic practice, an aesthetic theory, and a museum concept,” said Ziegler, organizer of the symposium.

Consisting of more than 29 works, The Spiritual Landscapes of Adrienne Farb, 1980-2006 is the first survey exhibition of Adrienne Farb, an abstract painter who has spent her career rigorously working with color and shape.

Symposium participants include: Charlotte N. Eyerman, Ph. D., curator of modern art, Saint Louis Museum; Carter Foster, curator of drawings, Whitney Museum of American Art; James Panero, managing editor, The New Criterion; Allyson Spellacy, director, Angela Hanley Gallery, Los Angeles; Judith Tannenbaum, Ph. D., Richard Brown Baker curator of contemporary art, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design; and Karen Wilkin, writer and frequent contributor to The New Criterion, Partisan Review, and Hudson Review.

The symposium is cosponsored by the dean of the College, the departments of philosophy and visual arts, the Cantor Art Gallery, and private donations.

For more information, call the Cantor Art Gallery at 508-793-3356 or visit the Gallery’s Web site.