Fresno Art Museum opens a new slate of exhibitions for 2025, including one of the country’s major African-American exhibitions
The Fresno Art Museum is celebrating the opening weekend of its new round of exhibitions. All of the opening shows run Feb. 8-June 29.
We’ll be covering them more extensively in The Munro Review in the coming months, but here is a rundown from the museum. All new shows will run Feb, 8-June 29.
The Harmon & Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art: Works on Paper
The 65 works in this exhibition date from the late 1800s to 2002 and represent just a fraction of what is contained in the Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of San Antonio, Texas, one of the country’s major African American art collections. David Driskell, esteemed art historian and Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland at College Park, calls the Kelley Collection “one of the finest that has been assembled tracing the history of African American art.”
First exhibited in 2009, this exhibition has been shown at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas; the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas; the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, Michigan; and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, among other museums.
Included in the exhibition are drawings, etchings, lithographs, watercolors, pastels, acrylics, gouaches, linoleum, and color screen prints by such noted artists as Ron Adams, Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, John Biggers, Margaret Burroughs, Elizabeth Catlett, Eldzier Cortor, Aaron Douglas, Jacob Lawrence, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Charles White, and many other outstanding lesser known artists.
Pixels: Image as Mythology, Contemporary Paintings by Michael Azgour
Pixels is a two-person exhibition featuring painter Michael Azgour and textile artist Michael F. Rohde.
STORY CONTINUES AFTER SPONSORED CONTENT
“Image as Mythology” is an exhibition in which Azgour explores the various ways in which images have been used to tell stories over time. The works in the exhibition are diverse in their scope and include larger-than-life portraits of artists, an immense homage to Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, and abstracted outdoor scenes, but they all explore imagery in our contemporary sphere.
The Munro Review has no paywall but is financially supported by readers who believe in its non-profit mission of bringing professional arts journalism to the central San Joaquin Valley. You can help by signing up for a monthly recurring paid membership or make a one-time donation of as little as $3. All memberships and donations are tax-deductible. The Munro Review is funded in part by the City of Fresno Measure P Expanded Access to Arts and Culture Fund administered by the Fresno Arts Council.
The works in this exhibition are part of an ongoing body of figurative paintings by artist Michael Azgour (b. 1979, Los Angeles, CA) and his studio which incorporate hard-edge geometric abstractions (or “pixels”) with expressive representational paint application. The resulting images are in flux between that which signifies something else and that which is an end in itself. The viewer is invited to engage with the works and in doing so to take part in completing the work. Curated by Sarah Vargas.
Synopses: handwoven tapestry faces by Michael F. Rohde
Pixels is a two-person exhibition featuring textile artist Michael F. Rohde and painter Michael Azgour
Concept: Handwoven tapestry has often been pushed to the limits of the medium’s capabilities, to approach photorealism. My approach is to recognize the grid imposed by the loom. For me, this leads to an examination of the minimum bits of information that can suggest a recognizable image. For this group of tapestries, I have used photos of faces, some recognizable, and some not, and reduced the image to 20 pixels wide. This produces the weaving plan, from which I again approximate the colors for each pixel and weave, row by row a set of squares, to generate an abstracted face.
The choices of which faces to use fall into three broad, but interrelated categories: One, individuals who in thought and practice have served as role models who we might wish all could emulate. Two, some recognizable images from the world of artistic expression. Three, painted faces of tribal icons. And, one self-portrait.
Process:These woven images are informed by both digital and hand technologies. Photographs of faces are worked in Photoshop, to crop an image to the face only, then to reduce the number of pixels to a width of twenty pixels. An 8.5×11 inch print of this highly pixelated face is then used as the guide to hand-weaving the tapestry.
To have the range of colors that I need, I dye all yarns used and aim to achieve a close match to the colors of the original face. In some cases, the original photo was either black and white, or sepia-toned; in these cases, an assortment of un-dyed alpaca yarns are used, in the tonal ranges needed.
The process of reducing the image to a small number of squares, as well as working with approximations of the colors, yields a portrait that sits on that tenuous edge between abstraction and representation. However, what amazes me is how little visual information is
needed to trigger recognition. Curated by Michele Ellis-Pracy.
Most often, when viewers are confronted with the physical tapestry, it does not immediately register as a face, unless they are far enough away, or view it via their cell phone, to take a picture. Thus the circle goes around from technology, to handwork.
Tony Natsoulas: Artist Heroes
The counterculture revolution of the 1960s produced more than anti-war protests, long hair, and flower power. It also impacted art forms where rebellion against the status quo manifested new art movements and modes of expression. The Funk Art Movement, born in Northern California in the early 1960s, defined a dynamic period of artistic upheaval that was particularly influential in developing contemporary American ceramics.
Ceramist and educator Robert Arneson (1930-1992) led the charge of the Funk Art Movement from the University of California, Davis, where, beginning in 1962, he taught ceramics from the famous TB-9 classroom building. Known for his work in self-portraiture, Arneson brought exciting new ideas and nonconventional attitudes to the field of ceramics which was dominated at the time by more traditional pottery practices. Exhibiting artist Tony Natsoulas (b. 1959) was a student of Arneson in his UC Davis TB-9 building and adeptly continues the Funk Clay Movement of the 1960s into the 21st century.
Natsoulas writes, “The exhibition Artist Heroes is a tribute to individuals whose actions embody the essence of heroism in its truest form. Through the art of sculpting, I have immortalized the remarkable figures who have dedicated their lives to making a positive impact on the world. From the trailblazing Annie Lennox and the benevolent Carlos Santana to the courageous Josephine Baker, each person featured in this collection embodies the spirit of heroism through their philanthropic endeavors and unwavering advocacy for social justice. Additionally, I have included representations of my personal heroes, such as the iconic Marx Brothers, the indomitable Rosalind Russell as Auntie Mame, and the vibrant Carmen Miranda. Artist Heroes is a visual narrative celebrating the profound influence of these exceptional individuals who inspire us all to strive for a better world.”
