Minnesota Biennial: 2D 2000

Minnesota Museum of American Art

Saint Paul, MN

651-292-4355

http://www.mtn.org/MMAA/index.html

Minnesota Biennial: 2D 2000

May 6 - July 30, 2000

The Minnesota Museum of American Art presents "Minnesota Biennial: 2D 2000" in the Exhibition Galleries May 6 through July 30, 2000. The statewide juried exhibition features 47 paintings, prints, photographs and mixed media art by 29 established and emerging artists. 517 artists representing 110 cities and towns across Minnesota entered the Biennial. (left: Stella Ebner, Library III, 1999, color woodcut on rice paper, 48 x 27 inches; right: Deanna Utter Grigus, Just Off Black Walnut III, 1999, color photography, 26 x 30 inches)

The opening party is Thursday, May 11, 5 - 9 p.m., with an Artist Slide Talk at 7 p.m. in the Weyerhaeuser Auditorium featuring half of the artists in the exhibition. The other half of the artists will present on Thursday, June 1 at 7 p.m. These events are free and open to the public.

Juror for the exhibition was Robert Knight, Director of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, in Scottsdale, Arizona. "I was honored to be asked by the Minnesota Museum of American Art to jury this year's Minnesota Biennial. Selecting a show from the more than 500 high quality entries was a challenging introduction to the vitality of contemporary art in Minnesota," he said. "For my selections, I gravitated toward representations with not only strong visual impact, but those that explored an array of issues and offered new twists on the traditions of landscape, figuration and the natural world. These works underscore the power that provocative art can evoke: making one look carefully, think critically, and occasionally, just have fun. (upper left: Craig A. Bell, Unsuspecting Target, 1999, oil on canvas, 12 x 24 inches; lower left: Molly Rucks, Face + Legs, 1999, color photographs, 20 x 48 inches; right: John Largaespada, Portrait of a Woman at Lake Calhoun, 1999, digital print, 26 x 24 inches)

This exhibition reconnects the Museum to its history of juried exhibitions of two- and three-dimensional art. Past national juried exhibitions include Drawings Midwest in 1996, the Drawing USA series in the 1950s and 1960s and the Fiber, Metal, Clay series during the 1970s. The key difference between these biennials and Minnesota Biennial Series is the geographic scope of the entries. While past biennials have been national or regional in their range, the Minnesota Biennial Series showcases art by Minnesota artists.

Continuing the tradition of the earlier biennials, the Museum also will purchase one piece of art from the exhibition to add to its collection. The 2002 Biennial: 3D 2002 will focus on the three-dimensional media of sculpture and studio craft. Future Biennials will alternate between 2D and 3D media. (left: Joy Liberman, Ulysses Destiny, 1999, oil, mixed media on panel, 36 x 38 inches)

Support for the "Minnesota Biennial: 2D 2000" exhibition and related programs has been provided by the American Express Minnesota Philanthropic Program on behalf of American Express Financial Advisors Inc. and American Express Travel Related Services Co., Northern States Power Company, Margaret Rivers Fund and Wet Paint.

Read more about the Minnesota Museum of American Art in Resource Library Magazine

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