From Wendy Maruyama to Charles Gaines, the Fresno Art Museum has a lot to celebrate in its Summer/Fall exhibitions

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Maruyama has exhibited in Tokyo, Seoul, and London. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Dallas Museum of Art; the Oakland Museum of California; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Mingei International Museum in San Diego. She recently retired from teaching at San Diego State University and now works full-time in her studio.

Pictured at top of story: Visitors take a close look at “Poston, from the Tag Project” (2011) by Wendy Muruyama. Photo by Heather Parish / The Munro Review

Glorious and Triumphant: Byzantine Icons from the Stefanopoulos Collection
Celebrating 100 Years of the St. George Greek Orthodox Church of Fresno
Curator: Sarah Vargas

Krasimir Ivanov, St. George on Horseback with Scenes from His Life – Icon from Veliko Tarnovo, 17th century, Tempera on wood, Courtesy of the A. & P. Stefanopoulos Collection

In honor of the centennial celebration of Fresno’s St. George Greek Orthodox Church, FAM presents a beautifully curated selection of Byzantine Iconography from the private collection of the Stefanopoulos family. Pieces ranging from the pre-17th century into the 21st century have been carefully selected to highlight their timeless similarities despite being created across centuries.

While iconography is closely associated with religious art (for obvious reasons), it also serves as a rich form of storytelling. Most of the pieces here are of a very modest size meant for personal reflection, but the difference is often in the details. While two-dimensional in approach, they are packed with symbolism and feeling guiding the viewer to contemplate an idea or religious event. But even for the non-religious, there are surprises to be found when given longer than a cursory look.

If you go, consider pairing this exhibition with a visit to St. George’s, which is FAM’s nearest neighbor to the west. The Rev. Jim Pappas assisted with this exhibition and welcomes visitors to the sanctuary, which he describes as “this exhibit, but on steroids.”

Programming note: This year’s Museum Day at FAM will coincide with Greek Fest at St. George’s. On Sept. 21, there will be free entry to the museum from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., then you can hop next door to the Greek Festival on the same day.

Heather Parish / The Munro Review

Detail from “Numbers and Trees, Matilda #4”, (1986) by Charles Gaines.

Charles Gaines: The Fresno Years
Curator: Sarah Vargas

Influential conceptual artist Charles Gaines taught at Fresno State for 22 years before moving on to Cal Arts. To mark Gaines’ 80th birthday, FAM pulled several of his works from its permanent collection, emphasizing pieces Gaines created between 1968 and 1991, while based in Fresno. Gaines’ approach engages mathematical formulas, grid structures, and philosophical systems to explore the relationship and tension between what is objective and what is subjective.

One of Gaines’ favorite subjects is the tree, which is rooted in his Fresno experience. Two particular pieces from the “Numbers and Trees” series use painting and photography to establish the “objective” tree — the one we all believe everyone sees. But then Gaines zooms in to a grid with a numbering system to identify the shape, color, and form experienced subjectively by the artist. I like how his work is two experiences in one, deconstructing and reconstructing the subject simultaneously. Gaines also interrogates language with “Submerged Text: Signifiers of Race #2, 1991” in which a piece of text assumed to be anodyne is redacted with numbers to show the racist bias embedded in the piece. It’s a fascinating exhibition for anyone drawn toward rational structures and questions of individual experience.

Gainess’ work is included in public collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Tate, London, UK.

Art of the Word: Once Upon a Book
Featuring the Illustrations of Grace Lin
Curator: Susan Yost Filgate

Fresno Art Museum

Grace Lin’s So She Did, from Once Upon a Book, Gouache on Arches hot press watercolor paper,  © 2023 Grace Lin. Art courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Children’s book illustrator and author Grace Lin believes that “books erase bias, they make the uncommon everyday, and the mundane exotic.” The Art of the Word features the illustrations from “Once Upon a Book,” a tale that fully illustrates that notion. Alice, the main character, seeks escape from the winter blahs in her run of the mill home, so she reaches for her favorite book. From there she falls “down the rabbit hole” (so to speak), and goes on adventures from earth to space to back home again.

While it may seem like a tale as old as time, Lin’s collage illustrations make it vibrant and fresh, full of explosive color and distinctive textures. They also have a maturity to them, with a rich vein of emotion culminating in a deep expanse of darkness to highlight the moon. All in all, this exhibition is worthwhile for families and fans of illustration and collage of any age.

Lin is a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, who won the Newbery Honor for “Where the Mountain Meets the Moon” and the Theodor Geisel Honor for “Ling and Ting.” Her novel “When the Sea Turned to Silver” was a National Book Award Finalist and her picture book, “A Big Mooncake for Little Star” was awarded the Caldecott Honor. In 2016, Lin’s art was displayed at the White House where she was a Champion of Change for Asian American and Pacific Islander Art and Storytelling. In 2022, Lin was awarded the Children’s Literature Legacy Award from the American Library Association.

Heather Parish / The Munro Review

Visitors in the newly reimagined “Art of the Ancient Americas” in the Hans Sumpf Gallery at the Fresno Art Museum.

Bonus: Art of the Ancient Americas
Permanent exhibition, now reopened to the public

And one more item for celebration: “Art of the Ancient Americas,” the permanent FAM exhibition closed for gallery repairs and reinterpretation, is once again open to the public. Refreshed with a brighter look and new themes. 75% of the items now displayed are pulled from the vault and will be new to visitors. Its official opening is Aug. 12, but it is open to visitors now.

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