Drawings | April Gornik, Archie Rand | An Artist Dialogue Series Event

Event Details

FREE - Auditorium doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Artists April Gornik and Archie Rand converse about her work and the new book, Drawings, published in conjunction with her recent major solo exhibition.

Light in the Woods, 2006, charcoal and pastel on paper, 34.5 x 50 inches, collection of Rebecca and Richard Stanton Jones.
Light in the Woods, 2006, charcoal and pastel on paper, 34.5 x 50 inches, collection of Rebecca and Richard Stanton Jones

April Gornik: Drawings is an extensive compilation of charcoal drawings done by Gornik since 1984. Lush and wide-ranging in scope and subject, these landscapes call out the wild and the cultivated, from the desert to the forest to the sea, and show both the progress and consistency in her evocative approach to drawing. As she has said, “Charcoal drawings look so unlike anything else in the world, they have their own light, their own density.” Contributions include essays by Steve Martin and artist Archie Rand; a fascinating interview with the artist, conducted by Lawrence Weschler, about her approach to her studio practice and her life; and a musical offering by composer Bruce Wolosoff, who has written a stunning work for piano and cello inspired by one of Gornik’s drawings (available with purchase through iTunes). 

Copies of the book are available for purchase and signing after audience Q&A at the end of event

Expanding Storm, 1990, charcoal and pastel on paper, 38 x 50 inches, collection of Fort Wayne Museum of Art
Expanding Storm, 1990, charcoal and pastel on paper, 38 x 50 inches,
collection of Fort Wayne Museum of Art

April Gornik lives and works in New York City, where she has been a resident since 1978, and in North Haven, Long Island, NY. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1953, she received a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1976. She has work in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; the Museum of Modern Art, NY; the National Museum of American Art in Washington, DC; the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC; the Cincinnati Museum, the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the Modern Art Museum of Art of Fort Worth, TX; the Orlando Museum of Art, FL; and other major public and private collections. She has shown extensively, in one-person and group shows, in the United States and abroad. Some noteworthy one-person exhibitions have been at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in conjunction with the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 1998; Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, NY, 1994; the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA, 1993; and the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY, 1988. She had work represented in the 1989 Whitney Biennial in NY, the 10+10 Show of American and Soviet Painters originating at the Fort Worth Museum in 1989, the Art Museum of the Rhode Island School of Art and Design in 1988, and Paradise Lost/Paradise Regained at the American Pavillion of the Venice Biennale in 1984. April Gornik is represented by the Danese/Corey Gallery in New York City, and has had one-person shows in New York regularly since 1981. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Guild Hall Museum in 2003, and was the Neuberger Museum’s Annual Honoree in 2004. A mid-career retrospective began at the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, NY in early fall, 2004. It has traveled to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery in Nebraska, and its final venue was the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin, Ohio, from March–June, 2006. A monograph, also serving as catalogue for the show, was published by Hudson Hills Press and the Neuberger Museum. It features over 140 color plates, an essay by Donald Kuspit, and an interview with Dede Young, Contemporary Curator at the Neuberger Museum. Another small retrospective took place at the Heckscher Museum in Huntington, NY, in summer 2009. April Gornik's most recent one-person show was held at Danese/Corey Gallery in spring 2014.

Islands, 1984, charcoal and pastel on paper, 38 x 50 inches, collection of Smith College Museum of Art
Islands, 1984, charcoal and pastel on paper, 38 x 50 inches,
collection of Smith College Museum of Art

Artist Archie Rand was born in Brooklyn and trained in New York City. He studied at the Art Student League of New York under Larry Poons and Lennart Anderson, and later received a B.A. in cinegraphics from the Pratt Institute in 1970. In 1966, the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York hosted Rand's first solo show, launching a career of over 100 solo exhibitions and 200 group exhibitions thus far in the U.S. and abroad. A frequent collaborator with artists and poets, Rand has worked as draughtsman with Robert Creeley and John Ashbery and explored subjects as diverse as jazz, the Bible, and Jewish history. In 1974, he completed murals for the 13,000 square foot interior of B'nai Yosef Synagogue in Brooklyn, a monumental three-year project. His graphic works and books are held in over 400 public collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The New York Public Library. Rand has administered and taught at numerous graduate art programs and appeared in major art journals and newspapers for over four decades. The recipient of numerous grants and awards, Rand is Presidential Professor of Art at Brooklyn College.

Initiated and organized by Arezoo Moseni in 2004, Artist Dialogues Series provide an open forum for understanding and appreciation of contemporary art. Artists are paired with critics, curators, gallerists, writers or other artists to converse about art and the potential of exploring new ideas.