ARTIST INCLUDED IN NJ MUSEUM EXHIBIT

Another reader of njartsmaven has written to inform me about her participation in an art show at the State Museum in Trenton. If you are in Trenton before the show closes on October 31, it's definitely worth the trip. Reality & Artifice, 2010 New Jersey Arts Annual: Fine Art  is a compelling exhibition of contemporary NJ artists in beautiful museum galleries.
Here are the particulars of that exhibition and the artist:

Marybeth Rothman is an artist from Tenafly whose work has been included in an exhibit entitled Reality & Artifice, 2010 New Jersey Arts Annual: Fine Art, curated by Margaret O’Reilly, Curator of Fine Art New Jersey State Museum, and Ricardo Barros, photographer. This annual juried museum exhibition highlights work of fine artists who live or work in New Jersey. Rothman, a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, has exhibited her work in galleries throughout the US. 

WHEN: May 8–October 31, 2010, Tuesday – Saturday, 9 AM–4:45 PM; Sunday, noon to 5 PM; Closed Mondays & State Holidays
WHERE: Main Building: 1st Floor East and North Galleries, New Jersey State Museum, 205 West State Street, Trenton

Her painting selected for Reality & Artifice, 2010 New Jersey Arts Annual: Fine Art, is Hugh 7:36 am (right). This encaustic* and mixed media painting, 36” x 40”, comes from Rothman’s series, Biographical Annotation. It represents the two sides of the theme of the exhibit: reality and artifice. Reality is illustrated through the use of a photograph, which at first glance gives the work the appearance of a traditional portrait. Artifice is conveyed through the integration of abstract drawings and paintings with the photograph to fabricate a memoir. 

Rothman uses a collection of orphaned photobooth photographs to “find the man with averted eyes or the woman whose empty stare appears indifferent to communication” beyond the lens. “These un-self-conscious expressions are emblems of the genuine self-portrait and the inspiration for my series Biographical Annotation,” she said, adding, “This examination is motivated by a wish to reclaim these lost and forgotten souls by re-imagining their biographies.”

These tiny self-portraits sit on Rothman’s worktable for months until one day their juxtaposition, a swatch of paint or a sketch calls for further development.  She then “manipulates and enlarges the image to allow for more intimacy between the viewer and the work.  In this large format [she]can fabricate a memoir by weaving abstract, encaustic paintings and mixed media elements with the photos. Many layers of encaustic paint create a visual depth that is unique to the medium.”

*ENCAUSTIC is luminous, pigmented beeswax. Damar, a tree resin, is added to the beeswax to make it hard. Encaustic paint is applied in a molten form with a brush to a rigid surface. A propane torch or heat gun is then used to fuse each layer. This many-layered process makes all imbedded material, such as drawings or photos, integral to the encaustic structure, as well as creating a visual depth unique to this medium. The use of encaustic is first noted in the 4th century B.C., painted on the hulls of Greek ships. The most well-known examples of early encaustic painting are the Greco-Roman, Fayum funerary portraits, from 100 B.C. to 200 A.D. These 2000-year-old encaustic paintings can still be seen in museums around the world (The Metropolitan Museum of Art has several in their Egyptian galleries).