BEDAZZLED
September 20, 2016 – January 14, 2017
Reception: Wednesday, October 5, 2016, 6:00- 8:00pm
Curated by Bartholomew F. Bland

See works encrusted with sequins and rhinestones, embellished with silver and gold leaf, and mesmerizing in a rainbow of geometric patterns. The exhibition shows us that “too much of a good thing . . . is never enough.”
“Bedazzled” implies amazement, to be overwhelmed to the point of confusion; going beyond our senses and reason. This lush exhibition of 43 artists includes work that seduces with glitz and glamour, and allures with a sense of magic and mystery. The exhibition presents a broad range of media—painting, installation, sculpture, printmaking, and digital media—that entice the viewer, while blurring the boundaries between the aesthetic experience and enchantment.
The artists represented in the exhibition are themselves a bedazzling array of famous names, mid-career artists and freshly emerging local talents, whose colorful and provocative works play with and illuminate each other.
The artists in the exhibition are: El Anatsui, Radcliffe Bailey, Nancy Blum, Paul Corio, Katherine Daniels, Evie Falci, Vibha Galhotra, Ori Gersht, Damien Hirst, Jessica Johnson, Joyce Kozloff,
Robert Kushner, James Lecce, Chris Leidy, Crystal Liu, Nancy Lorenz, Liza Lou, Susie MacMurray, Armando Marino, Sasha Meret, Betriz Milhazes, Marilyn Minter, Melissa “MRS” Castignoli, Paula Nadelstern, Eva Obodo, Caitlin Peluffo, Rubem Robierb, Carlos Rolón/Dzine, James Rosenquist, Michelle Sakhai, Nancy Saleme, Holly Sears, David Shaw, Devan Shimoyama, Rachel Stern, Megan Suttles, Barbara Takenaga, Mickalene Thomas, Federico Uribe, Paul Villinski,
Stephen Westfall, Saya Woolfalk, and Robert Zakanitch.
The exhibition highlights optics, ornament, surfaces, light, mirroring, pattern, repetition, abstraction, and geometry. Among the featured works are the dazzling kaleidoscopic effects of Bronx fiber artist Paula Nadelstern and the nature photographs of Chris Leidy, who finds swirling patterns in sea creatures. Other works include Armando Marino’s color-saturated dream-like painting; the hypnotic geometries of Paul Corio and Evie Falci; the explorations of bejeweled adornment for the human body by Mickalene Thomas and Rachel Stern; and Immaculate Swarm, a large-scale installation of 15,000 silver bobby pins by Megan Suttles that explores reflection, pattern, and light.
The exhibition is made possible by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation.
About the curator
Bartholomew F. Bland is the Executive Director of the Lehman College Art Gallery.�He has conceptualized and organized more than 60 exhibitions. Bedazzled is his debut exhibition for the Lehman College Art Gallery.
About Lehman College Art Gallery
Lehman College Art Gallery was founded in 1984 to serve as an arts center for the people of the Bronx that would play a significant role in the cultural life of the borough. Today, the gallery is an innovative center of contemporary art where visitors from the Bronx and the greater New York area can experience thematic group exhibitions that bring together famous artists with emerging talents.
http://www.lehman.edu/vpadvance/artgallery/gallery/