ALFA ART GALLERY -- EXHIBITIONS / EVENTS

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PAST EXHIBITIONS / EVENTS

September 5th, 2008 - 7-10pm - "Summer in New Brunswick 2008" & "Illegitimi non Carborundum" - Photo Exhibitions Opening Event

Photography Contest

Capture what Summer 2008 in New Brunswick is like for you: the places you go, things you do, and sights you see. Ideas to start with include: a day in the life of your workplace, school or place of worship. Photos must be taken within New Brunswick city limits. Please only submit photos taken between May – August 2008.

A panel of professional photographers and library staff will judge the submissions for first, second and third place. The photographs entered in the contest will be displayed in a group exhibit at the Alfa Art Gallery and in the library. The contest winners will be announced at the photography contest receptions on Friday, September 5 at 6 p.m. in the Alfa Art Gallery and on Saturday, September 6 at 3 p.m. in the library. Click here for more information about the two photography receptions.

The submission form with complete details is available in the New Brunswick Free Public Library, located at 60 Livingston Avenue, or click here for submission form.

George Street Camera has generously donated disposable cameras for use by persons entering the contest who do not have access to a camera. Available on a first come, first served basis, cameras can be picked up at the library.

For more information, please contact Laura Szalaj lszalaj@lmxac.org or 732-745-5108 x20.

http://www.nbfpl.org/events.html
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080603/ENTERTAINMENT03/806030364/-1/ENTERTAINMENTFRONT
http://www.newbrunswicklife.com/2008/05/16/picture-perfect-summer-at-the-new-brunswick-free-public-library/

"Summer in New Brunswick 2008" (September 5th - September 24th)
New Brunswick Free Public Library Photo Exhibition

The New Brunswick Free Public Library and Alfa Art Gallery are bringing the photographs of local residents to public attention in two simultaneous exhibitions entitled “Summer in New Brunswick.” Entrants in the New Brunswick Free Public Library’s summer photography contest will be featured in exhibitions in the Alfa Art Gallery and the library’s Community Room. Opening receptions will be held Friday, September 5 at 7 p.m. in the Alfa Art Gallery and Saturday, September 6 at 3 p.m. in the New Brunswick Free Public Library. First, second and third place award winners in the photography contest will be announced at the opening receptions.

"Illegitimi non Carborundum" (September 5th - September 24th)
Colaborative Arts Gall3ry Photo Exhibition
Curretted by Jen Sohn-Park

Ghosts of imprints, observations of surroundings, and direct human engagements - as a visual collage of seven artists' immortalization of fleeting moments, interactions, and temporary scenes, Illegitimi non Carborundum is an invitation to step into an intimate space, and experience a dialogue expressed by the subject. From the humor of Celeste Compton's Duck Hunt and Tom Curcuruto's Clothes for All Occasions, the privacy of Damian Suarez's Untitled, Ecuador, to the remembrance of Anthony Dominiczak's 29f34, Illegitimi non Carborundum forever ingrains man made and natural creations, stills the seconds of time that have otherwise passed, and gives recognition to the face that no longer belongs to a stranger. Illegitimi non Carborundum is about the appreciation of perspectives that make the daily grind seem less humdrum.

Gall3ry is designed to give emerging artists and curators the opportunity to produce their own exhibitions under the guidance of Collaborative Arts’ artistic leadership. The curator is guided through the process of refining an exhibition idea, contacting artists, developing materials about the artist and organizing an opening reception. The curator then further develops the exhibition thematically by advising artists on selection and organization of their works for presentation.

Jen Sohn-Park, Curator

Jen Sohn-Park is a recent graduate of the visual arts program at Rutgers University. Her focus in medium is photography and video and has studied under artists such as Hasan Elahi, Jason Francisco, Damian Catera and Diane Neumaier. She has previously participated as an artist in coLAB Arts’ Resonate series and shown work at Seed Gallery in Newark, New Jersey. In addition to her work as an artist, Jen is an active participant of the New Brunswick arts community and has been an organizer of art happenings throughout the city including This Town Needs A Parade (now in it’s third year) and recently joined Collaborative Arts as a visual arts producer.

Arielle Baio, Artist

Arielle Baio is a graduate of Mason Gross School of the Arts with a BFA in photography, specializing in large format, 4" x 5" color photography and large format painting. She has worked as a photographer for Best's Review and now works at College Board as a full-time photographer and photo editor. She is currently taking classes at the International Center of Photography. In attempt to understand society, her place in it, and subsequently how others function within its confines, she photographs the objects they use or own and the environments they chose to frequent. The items we choose to keep near and the places we dwell speak volumes about whom we are and where we intend to go.

Celeste Compton, Artist

Celeste Compton is a photographer who works to evoke genuine emotion from her audience by depicting ordinary moments and monuments, which are commonly taken for granted and overlooked. She is currently enrolled at Montclair State University and plans to graduate next fall with a baccalaureate degree in English.

Tom Curcuruto, Artist

Tom Curcuruto is a New Jersey native who currently resides in New Brunswick. He is a self-taught photographer who carries on in the tradition of rangefinder street photography. He often approaches the scenes or locations he photographs unnoticed inorder to capture images that speak to the primary aim in his work: to find the element in what he photographs that speak to "what makes humans, human."

Anthony Dominiczak, Artist

Anthony Dominiczak is a social documentary photographer who strives to capture lyrical moments and passive peculiarities in the examination of labor issues, political dissension, counter-culture, and the life of city streets. He is a recent B.F.A. graduate of Mason Gross School of the Arts and is currently pursuing a Masters degree at the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University.

Colleen Kathenes, Artist

Colleen Kathenes is a recent graduate of Mason Gross School of the Arts with a BFA in photography. She currently resides in Livingston, NJ where she is still taking pictures. While she puts a lot of deliberate care into her compositions, finding things to photograph is done almost mindlessly. She feels she has very little control over which subjects she photographs. A certain scene or image will, almost innately, draw her in and she knows she needs a picture of it. While there are undeniable recurrent subjects, themes, colors, and objects found in her photographs, they are quite unconscious or accidental and are realized only after the prints are made and a step is taken back. Her work may, more simply, be about individual perception itself. Maybe the same scene wouldn't jump out at someone else if they passed it by on the street. Perhaps everyone is innately drawn to different things, but when only that small scene is cut out of the world and put into a frame and people are forced to focus on it, she would like to think we could briefly share a similar perception.

Damian Suarez, Artist

Damien Suarez is currently attending the American School of Medicine in Cuba. Damian Suarez is a social documentary photographer and says, "I am very upfront with my photography; it is quite rare for me to make an image from behind a subject or with them unaware, they know and accept my presence.” Traditional social documentary photographers capture their subjects, but Damian’s involvement with his subjects creates an involvement that is rare in this type of documentation. He is interested in what his subjects have to say, be it in their movements or their words. Before, during and/or after they are etched onto film he shares in an interaction that can never be repeated, for the subject is no longer the same, and neither is he. His interaction with his subjects bridge the barrier between subject and photographer and breaks the barrier commonly found in the photographs of social documentary photographers.

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