Internationally-acclaimed artist Wolf Kahn and his wife, Emily Mason, are planning a rare joint exhibition – “Separate & Together” – from March 23 through May 21 at Union College's Mandeville Gallery, located in the Nott Memorial at the center of campus.
The opening is April 11 at 4:30 p.m. with a lecture at 6 p.m. by Kahn titled “Ten Prejudices About Art and Artists and an Attempt at their Correction.”
The exhibition explores the artistic relationship between two artists who are connected by an intimate personal relationship. Through the works selected for the show, the audience will be presented with a series of questions and connections – about creativity, relationships, inspiration and artistic vision.
Kahn has received a Fulbright Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and an award in art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He recently completed an appointment to the New York City Art Commission. His works are part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington.
Mason's recent solo exhibitions include MB Modern in New York, Thomas Babeor Gallery in San Diego, Virginia Lynch Gallery in Tiverton, R.I., and the Brattleboro (Vt.) Museum of Art.
“When I start a picture I like to use the medium as directly as I can,” says Mason. “This makes possible a state of mind which avoids pictorial constraints. I try to use paint for its brilliance, transparency, opacity, liquidity, weight, warmth and coolness. These qualities guide me in a process which will determine the climate of the picture. All the while I work to define spatial relationships, resulting in certain kinds of places. I cannot name them but know intuitively when they appear.”
Works in the show date from the last 10 years. A four-color catalog includes an introduction and interview by curator Rachel Seligman, director of the Mandeville Gallery.
The show, organized by the Mandeville Gallery, is to travel to the Robert Hull Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont, and the Akus Gallery at Eastern Connecticut State University.
The show is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 10 p.m.
For more information, call (518) 388-2232