“After Dance With You” by Grace Junkwook Rim Fourteen contemporary artists are featured in an exhibit that will open at the Shore Institute of the Contemporary Arts (SICA) next week.
“Critics Select,” curated by D. Dominick Lombardi, will be on exhibit at SICA, 20 Third Ave. in Long Branch, Jan. 12 through Feb. 27. An opening reception will be held Jan. 14 from 6 to 9 p.m.
Lombardi invited seven noted critical art writers to choose two artists who they believe are deserving of greater recognition.
The writers are Edward Gomez, The New York Times; Carol Kino, The New York Times and Art+ Auction; Barbara MacAdam, ArtNews; Robert C. Morgan, Sculpture magazine; L. Robin Rice, Philadelphia City Paper; Gae Savannah, Art Forum, Flash Art; and Judith Stein, Philadelphia critic.
‘Crouch” by Charles Yuen Gomez selected Anne Fisher, who makes three-dimensional drawings with wire, and Jon Waldo, who creates randomly patterned paintings and drawings.
Kino selected abstract surrealist painter Patricia Smith, who creates psychologically charged vistas, and Marilla Palmer, an installation artist.
“Cloud” by Marilla Palmer MacAdam selected installation artists Oona Stern and Jacob Robichaux, who both reinterpret the use and placement of commonplace elements.
Morgan selected two narrative, symbolist painters, Charles Yuen, who views the world with suspicion and apprehension, and Grace Junkwook Rim, whose art reflects a view of the world as mysterious, primal and emotive.
Rice selected Hank Murta Adams and Susan Hagen. Adams works with glass, wire and other materials creating patterns or grids and freestanding busts, while Hagen’s wood sculptures emphasize the mythological and the fantastical.
“Oracle Tree” by Susan Hagen Savannah selected Michael Krumenacker and Linda Ganjian. Krumenacker’s art glides across an odd functionality one might find in a surrealist’s dream. Ganjian crosses fine art with her take on an increasingly excessive culture.
Bill Walton and Eileen Neff are the selections of Stein. Walton’s conceptual works create a compelling and mysterious narrative, while Neff puts a curious and inspiring spin on the perceptions of great poets.
“Icon 18” by Anne Fisher “The resulting exhibition, which reveals a diversity of concerns and concepts, and a disparate and exciting approach to materials and concepts,” Lombardi said in his curator’s statement, “proves contemporary art to be an essential factor in understanding our ever-changing world.”
Gallery hours at SICA are Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
 “Armature for Music” by Patricia Smith |