Contemporary approaches to the age-old myth of Arcadia will be the focus of an exhibit in the William Rolland Gallery of Fine Art at California Lutheran University.
“Et in Arcadia Ego” will run from Friday, Feb. 3, through Thursday, April 6, on the Thousand Oaks campus. Curator David Molesky of Brooklyn will lead tours of the exhibit at 8:45 a.m., 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9. An opening reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11.
The exhibition explores the idea of Arcadia, a place of rural peace and simplicity, as it has been reinterpreted and reinvented through the eyes of contemporary artists. The featured artists all work with Arcadian themes such as idealized landscape, contemplation of mortality and what it means to be human in the temporal world while standing on the precipice of the next world.
Highlights include works from renowned Norwegian figurative painter Odd Nerdrum and Los Angeles artists Sandow Birk and Astrid Preston. Other featured artists include former NASA engineer Kim Keever, who photographs complex miniature scenes that he builds underwater; Brad Kunkle, who places idyllic images of figures in autumn forest landscapes; and David Ligare, who is known for his pastoral paintings. Other participating artists are Agostino Arrivabene, Seamus Conley, Julie Heffernan, Maria Kreyn, Holly Lane, Stephanie Peek, Gillian Pederson-Krag, Aron Wiesenfeld, Robin F. Williams and Jason Yarmosky.
The exhibit was inspired by and named for a 17th-century painting by Nicolas Poussin. “Et in Arcadia Ego” can be translated, “Even in Arcadia, there am I,” an ambiguous phrase that may allude to impermanence of the ideal and death. A work attributed to Poussin, “Promised Land,” will be featured in the exhibit.
Molesky curated the exhibit and organized it in conjunction with the New Museum Los Gatos. The internationally recognized fine artist is known for his landscapes and figurative works. His paintings have been exhibited in museums throughout the world including the Baltimore Museum of Art, Pasinger Fabrik in Germany, Casa dell’Architettura in Italy and Telemarksgalleriet in Norway.
Admission to the exhibit and events is free.
The gallery is in William Rolland Stadium, which is located north of Olsen Road near Mountclef Boulevard. It is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdaythrough Friday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. For more information, contact Rachel T. Schmid at 805-493-3697 or [email protected] or visit CalLutheran.edu/rolland.
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