ROBERT ARNESON
THE BLACK SERIES: SELECTED WORKS, 1988-1990
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nearly 20 years after they were first exhibited, the George Adams Gallery is pleased to present “Robert Arneson: The Black Series, Selected Works 1988-1990.” First shown in 1990 at the Frumkin/Adams Gallery, Arneson’s Black series is comprised primarily of paintings and drawings with a limited number of ceramic sculptures that unabashedly confront issues of racial stereotyping. Contrasting larger than life images of African American men, many are derived from photographs taken from a Time Magazine cover article on 464 Americans killed by gunfire in one week’s time, the works challenge negative stereotypes put forth by the media. Arneson wrote at the time, “My recent images of Black Americans in black and white about white and black, are hard looking -– looking hard—confronting our perceptual awareness and attitudes toward the national dilemma – racism.”

Works in the exhibition include Calling All Cops, a large-scale, mixed media portrait of a young African American male wearing a knitted cap. The figure’s face is overrun with a frenzy of brightly colored scribbles and scrawls, bringing to life an underlying psychic tension. Similarly, the large-scale drawing Election Time Again portrays Willie Horton, a murderer whose story (and mug-shot) was appropriated by the George H. Bush campaign in 1988 and used against Michael Dukakis. The show also includes the paired sculptures Rapist & Drug Dealer and Chief Executive Officer, the former represented by white male portrait bust and the latter characterized by a black male portrait bust.

The Robert Arneson exhibition will open on Thursday, November 8th and remain on view through December 30th. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10am to 6pm and Mondays by appointment. Please visit our web site http://www.georgeadamsgallery.com for further information and to view images of works in the exhibition.

In a related event, on Saturday, November 17th Professor Jonathan Fineberg, author of Strategies of Being: Art Since 1945 and Imagining America: Icons of 20th Century American Art, among other scholarly publications, will read from his forthcoming monograph on Robert Arneson. Please contact the gallery for further details.

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
January – February 2008
Roy de Forest: A Memorial Retrospective

February – March 2008
Main Gallery: James Barsness: New Paintings
Drawing Gallery: Ron Nagle: New Sculpture