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Manuel
Neri |
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The
San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) announces the exclusive
California presentation of Manuel Neri's The Figure in Relief,
a comprehensive exhibition of painted sculptures, maquettes and works
on paper by this preeminent Bay Area-based sculptor. The show includes
work from the past 25 years that focuses on Neri's use of the fragmentary
and partial figure. The exhibition runs from November 8th through January
17th in the ICA's Main Gallery.
For more than five decades, Neri has been exploring the human figure
in his art. He is known internationally for his life-size sculptures
in plaster, bronze, ceramic and marble as well as for his association
with the Bay Area figurative movement during the 1950s and 1960s. The
reliefs recall ancient Greek temple pediments and metopes as well as
Medieval altarpiece carvings and Renaissance relief sculpture. The carefully
curated exhibition showcases Neri's unique ability to depict the figural
form in various media.
"The
ICA is truly honored to present this magnificent body of work by one
of today's most celebrated sculptors," says Cathy Kimball, ICA
Executive Director and Chief Curator. "We encourage everyone to
visit the ICA to experience this stunning collection of figurative sculptures
and be inspired by the mastery of the medium achieved by this living
master."
A 196-page monograph accompanies the exhibition and provides comprehensive
documentation of this unique series of sculptures. An opening reception
and catalogue signing by the artist will be held at the ICA on November
7th from 6pm to 8pm. On November 13th at 7pm the ICA's monthly art discussion
forum, Talking Art will address Neri's 25-year
teaching career at UC Davis and the influence he's had on hundreds of
artists. The session is entitled Figuratively Speaking: Tracing the
Influence of a Teacher, a Program, A Movement and a Place, and the
panel includes Bay Area artists Robert Brady, Christopher Brown and
Fred Snyder.
Neri's work in plaster, ceramic, bronze and stone have merited him the
2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Sculpture Center
in Hamilton, New Jersey. He will also be receiving the 2008 Bay Area
Treasure Award from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on November
12th. Manuel Neri was born in 1930 in the San Joaquin Valley to Mexican
immigrants and has lived in the Bay Area since 1950. Neri studied at
the California College of Arts & Crafts and the California School
of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute), where he also taught
from 1959 to 1965. He joined the faculty of the University of California,
Davis in 1965 and retired from teaching in 1990.
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