The New York Academy of Art is pleased to present “Call of the Wild,” a special exhibition at the 2016 Art Southampton art fair, co-curated by Academy Board Member Brooke Shields and Academy President David Kratz. "Call of the Wild" will be on view from July 7 -11 at the Nova’s Ark Project. The Academy will celebrate with special reception on Friday, July 8 from 5 - 7 pm.

“Call of the Wild” presents over thirty paintings, prints and sculptures by alumni from the New York Academy of Art, themed around the animal kingdom and the natural world. As the nation’s premier school for training in contemporary figurative and representational art, the Academy has a long tradition of portraying animals in artworks, and even partners with local animal sanctuaries to offer drawing classes with live animal models at the school. Everything from kangaroos and alligators to monkeys and owls have appeared in Academy classrooms as the subjects of drawing sessions. “Call of the Wild” represents a diverse range of artistic styles and fauna, from highly stylized whale paintings to meditative portraits of cows.

The New York Academy of Art has exhibited at Art Southampton for the past four years, and “Call of the Wild” marks the first curatorial outing by Shields, a longtime supporter of the Academy. Notes co-curator David Kratz, “Brooke and I are both animal lovers and we both know the superb quality of the Academy’s artists, so curating this exhibition was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate two mutual passions.”

Founded in 1982 by artists, scholars and patrons of the arts, including Andy Warhol, the New York Academy of Art is a not-for-profit education and cultural institution which combines intensive technical training in drawing, painting and sculpture with active critical discourse. Academy students are taught traditional methods and techniques and encouraged to use these skills to make vital contemporary art. Through major exhibitions, a lively speaker series, and an ambitious educational program, the Academy serves as a creative and intellectual center for all artists dedicated to highly skilled, conceptually aware figurative and representational art.