It’s easier than ever to check out the Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery at Stony Brook University during Welcome Week from Aug. 21-24. Besides an opportunity to view SUPER VISION by globally acclaimed artist Nicole Cohen, the week includes arts and crafts for students and the public free of charge.
Gallery director and curator Karen Levitov said that the lobby will be set up for a variety of crafts, which could include origami, painting or clay modeling, offering a “chance for people to sit down and just do something crafty for fun and chat with anyone else who happens to be there.”
It’s also an occasion to view SUPER VISION, which Levitov has long wanted to bring to the gallery, recognizing Cohen’s creativity with video and photo collages that overlap contemporary and past images.
“We’re really excited about this show,” she said. “It’s captivating the way she does this layering of images. Using archival photographs, she puts someone from the past into a contemporary situation or sometimes reverses it and has people from the present time projected into past rooms.”
Cohen toys with perception, inviting a novel look at many familiar sites, like Central Park. As part of this show, the gallery opens its space to a supersized video that combines animation with a historic photo of the New York Public Library, entitled “Contemporary Art Books & New York Public Library, Time Lapse."
“Most of our shows are contemporary, living artists and a lot of them are like Nicole Cohen, established artists,” said Levitov.
Noting that Cohen has presented shows at the Brooklyn and Getty museums, and all over the world, she said, “Here’s an opportunity for people to see this kind of world-class artist right here on Long Island.”
According to a gallery press release, “Her work is positioned at the crossroads of contemporary reality, personal fantasy and altered spaces.” Cohen’s website describes her as an “American installation artist, who works with video and new media in order to explore issues of how interior design and architecture reveals aspects of portraiture and identity.”
SUPER VISION is true to its name as a super compilation of Cohen’s major work spanning the last 20 years. The exhibit runs through Oct. 18 with an artist talk and reception on Sept. 12 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
According to the gallery website, Cohen’s creations are part of the permanent collections of U.S. Art in Embassies Collection, Williams College Museum, The Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, CA, Cedar Sinai Hospital and others. For more information visit the gallery website.
For art enthusiasts who might be busy or watching their budgets, the gallery is always free and can be enjoyed in less than an hour, Levitov said.
With a departure from its traditional hours, the gallery in the Staller Center for the Arts in Stony Brook will mark Welcome Week by extending hours to Saturday. Gallery hours throughout the event are 12-4 p.m.