Caitlin Cherry, "Monster Energy," 2017
The UMCA is pleased to announce a first! -- Artist CAITLIN CHERRY’s two-week printmaking residency has just been completed at UMass, in collaboration with the Art Department’s Printmaking Studio.
Caitlin Cherry, an emerging Brooklyn-based artist whose work has been gaining critical attention, was nominated by the renowned artist Kara Walker to create a series of prints here at UMass. These new works, along with their paper and cardboard maquettes, will premiere in an exhibition at the UMCA, opening March 23rd with a reception for the artist on Wednesday March 29th, 5 – 7 p.m. The results of Caitlin’s experimental UMass project will be on public view in tandem with Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker’s Tales of Slavery and Power (February 2 – April 30) in adjacent galleries at the UMCA.
As Kara Walker has stated, “Caitlin Cherry demands more than mere painting is willing to provide. She teases the viewer with the promise of illusionistic painterly space and then she catapults her canvas into the void, forcing it to exist in real time, building little fortresses, and firing cannons in its general direction. I have a sense she will continue to break apart the rules governing painting and sculpture, and tease that unsettling sweet spot that disarms viewers' expectations.”
This is Caitlin Cherry’s first printmaking project. The results are both inventive and provocative. At UMass she has been working under the direction of Assistant Professor Juana Valdes, with guidance from master printer Mikael Petraccia and project assistant Lauren Bennett (M.F.A. 2016).
As an outcome of this project the artist will donate one artwork to the UMCA’s permanent art collection, plus donate additional artworks for resale in order to raise funds for the UMCA, the Art Department, as well as to sustain the Class of 1961 Artist’s Residency Program. The artist will retain ownership of all other artworks produced during her stay at UMass.
During the artist’s return visit in March, Caitlin will participate as a panelist in the forthcoming symposium Black Aesthetics, hosted at Hampshire College.
Caitlin Cherry's exhibition, Monster Energy, will run from March 23 - April 30, 2017.
For more info, please see the UMCA event page.