Wayne and Adrian by Phil Paratore, oil on canvas, 1963
Chagall Doll by Denise Giardullo
“Golden Age of New Paltz: Part II” is the second of three installments in the Wired Gallery and Jack Murphy’s exhaustive attempt to document and celebrate and as much as possible reassemble the artists of New Paltz of the 1960s. The “Golden Age” series makes no outlandish claims about historical significance. By focusing on the relationships that took shape among faculty, students and artists unaffiliated with the college, “Golden Age” tells the story of a small-town scene that would produce some nationally registering art of a significance disproportionate to the town’s and the program’s size.
Proximity to the City and the expansion of the Normal School’s programming set the stage for Part One of the series. Part Two documents the New Paltz art scene in full swing. Among the work on display will be examples by SUC-New Paltz professors Ben Bishop, Maurice Brown, Ken Burge, John Frank, Alex Minewski, Benjamin Wigfall and others.
Work by students from that era will include Gary Allen, John Anderson, Allen Bryan, Harvey Cohen, Reno DeRosa, Jimmy Edwards, Denise Giardullo, Dick Hogle, Eric Iversen, Anthony Panzera, Theo Papas, Phil Paratore, Bruce Pileggi, Roger Polansky, Rosalie Rossi, Eddie Samuels, Susan Slotnick, Jon Ellis Stevens, Tom Stratton, Al Summ, Rosalind Zarr and others.
The opening reception takes place on Saturday, April 7 at 5 p.m. at the Wired Gallery, located at 11 Mohonk Road in High Falls. For more information, visit www.thewiredgallery.com.