In a new exhibit created especially for Rochester Art Center, Minnesota-based, international artist, Anne Labovitz, examines ways art and creativity benefit both community and the individual.
ROCHESTER, Minn., June 28, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In a new exhibit created especially for Rochester Art Center, Minnesota-based, international artist, Anne Labovitz, examines how art and creativity benefit both community and the individual.
"The Nexus of Well Being and Art is an examination and experimentation with light, color and scale, and the conceptual premise of art's connection to well-being," explains Labovitz. "These works are based on years of investigating color and light, and the emotional impact they have on the observer,"
For additional information visit The Nexus of Well-Being and Art on the Rochester Art Center website.
In preparation for creating the exhibit, Labovitz researched numerous studies and conducted extensive interviews with health professionals on the connections between art and well-being. The resulting concepts, such as connection, community, hope, love, peace, purpose, rest and resiliency are expressed throughout the exhibition.
Atrium Commission
Even before entering the exhibition galleries, guests are greeted by a soaring, three-story atrium installation. Will to Meaning was commissioned by Rochester Art Center and is an extension of the overall themes contained within The Nexus of Well-Being & Art. The enormous artwork is 40-feet by 35-feet by 5-feet and made of vibrantly painted Tyvek® scrolls that subtly move and create an ever-changing interplay with the abundant natural light that filters in from the overhead skylights and surrounding windows. Will to Meaning is on display through 2023.
Contrasting Galleries of Light and Dark
The two galleries that house The Nexus of Well-Being & Art feature nearly 30 new works by Labovitz, including six 6-feet x 6-feet paintings. The Word Works Series are text-based and highly responsive works using a process Labovitz describes as Relational Listening. Created with acrylic on paper, they embody movement, gesture, and mark-making as a contemplative, intuitive process. The artist makes gestural marks, each line a letter or word. Words are layered and abstracted, and a direct response of Labovitz's research into art, health, and listening to interviews she conducted with health professionals.
"Through Relational Listening I serve as a conduit, transfiguring human connection into physical forms," explained Labovitz. "I create interpretive chronicles of multiple conversations."
A second, notably darker, gallery features three 6-feet x 6-feet illuminated light sculptures entitled LightWindows, created from Tyvek® over an acrylic vitrine that are each lit from behind with 576 individual LED lights. For Labovitz, the illuminated works represent the intense connection between art and health with light as a metaphor for emotion.
"I conceived of these works with light as a medium, just like an artist uses paint or canvas," explained Labovitz. "It manifest the ideas of health, metaphorically emphasizing the contrast between lighter opposed to darker emotional states – and the need for difficult times to help us appreciate the lighter times."
In the same gallery, an enormous looping sculpture, Embracing Well-Being hangs from the ceiling. Its vivid flowing colors contrast sharply with the negative spaces and surrounding shadows. The accordion-like work mirrors the atrium installation yet offers viewers a different experience. Scale, words, proximity, and density are highlighted here to feel more intimate as compared to the atrium piece, according to Labovitz. The double-sided painted Tyvek installation sways with air and visitor movement. As visitors walk around the work, they move the air and activate the installation, creating a stronger connection between the artwork and the audience, transforming the individual from observer to an integral aspect of the artwork.
In what has become a signature element of many of Labovitz's exhibitions, the public also is invited to participate and contribute to the content of the exhibit through a Well-Being Wall. This interactive installation is an invitation for visitors to respond to the question, "What does well being mean to you?" on a 6 x 6 inch artist-created paper, and in turn, place their own artwork on a wall filled with a grid of nails creating an evolving mosaic. Labovitz's intention is to reflect tangible marks of connection between viewers and the exhibition experience in a creative exchange between the artist and audience. For Labovitz, reciprocal exchange is an ongoing collaborative process built on respect, creativity, and equity.
About the Artist
Anne Labovitz is Minnesota-based, international artist known for artwork that challenges isolation, loneliness and disconnection by activating color and light in her large-scale works. Local context and creating connections with others is embodied in her creative process and public interventions
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Labovitz received her bachelor's of arts in art and psychology, and a minor in art education and art history from Hamline University, St. Paul, Minn. (1989) and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Practice from Transart Institute, Plymouth University, Berlin (2017). She is currently Adjunct Professor and Mentor at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, Master of Fine Arts program.
Labovitz's art is exhibited widely both nationally and internationally. In addition to her Rochester Art Center show, upcoming projects include solo exhibitions at Athenaeum in La Jolla, CA (2023) and the Minnesota State Capitol (2024). Her works are included in numerous public and private collections, including Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport commissioned by Airport Foundation MSP for its permanent art collection; Frederick R Weisman Art Museum; Minnesota Museum of American Art, St Paul; Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., Minnesota Marine Art Museum, Winona; The Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth; The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, La Jolla; Minnesota Historical Society, St Paul; International Gallery of Portrait, Bosnia-Herzegovina; Växjö Kommun, Sweden; Isumi City Offices, Japan; University of Raparin, Rania Iraqi Kurdistan; and City of Petrozavodsk, Russia.
About the Rochester Art Center
The Rochester Art Center is a museum of contemporary art located along the Zumbro River in the heart of historic downtown Rochester, MN. Founded in 1946, the Art Center hosts an ongoing schedule of exhibitions of work by local, regional, national, and international artists; dynamic educational programs for all ages; and an array of community partnerships and visitor engagement initiatives. Through world-class exhibitions and programs, the Art Center presents a welcoming, integrated, and diverse experience that encourages questioning, creativity, and critical thinking.
Media Contact
Jacqueline Hanson, Hanson Communications, 1 952-451-5000, [email protected]
SOURCE Anne Labovitz
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