NEWARK, NJ.- This fall the Newark Museum unveils new work by contemporary artists living in the United States . These installations are the newest additions to the Museum’s permanent collection exhibition Picturing America , which features works from the colonial times through the present that have had a powerful impact on shaping American culture and identity.

Papyraceous: Recent Acquisitions, Contemporary Works on Paper
Paper was invented in 2nd century BC, but contemporary artists are still finding new and expansive ways to use it as an artistic medium. The Newark Museum ’s new exhibition Papyraceous: Recent Acquisitions, Contemporary Works on Paper features a range of these experimental approaches and highlights the Museum’s ongoing commitment to collecting the work of living artists, many of whom live or work in the New York Metropolitan area.

Artists including Chakaia Booker, Willie Cole, Clinton Hill, Martin Puryear, Alexis Rockman, Shazia Sikander, Kiki Smith and Shoshanna Weinberger utilize a range of techniques that include print making, collaging, drawing and painting. Many of the artists are known for their work as sculptors, and this sensibility comes through in the sculptural quality exhibited in a number of these works, through either shaped and molded forms or through practices like embossing, tearing, cutting and layering.

“A natural material in itself, paper seems to instinctively lend itself to connect with themes related to nature,” said Mary-Kate O’Hare, Curator of American Art at the Newark Museum . “Many of the works seen here address issues affecting our environment and humanity’s relationship and impact upon it. Themes of geography and identity intertwine with formal experimentation that together offers us new perspectives on our world.”

Works on display include those by New York City residents Rockman and Smith. Rockman’s Red Hurricane uses a mix of abstraction and figuration to explore the collision between humanity and the natural world; while Smith’s Wildfire reflects her concerns about the relationship between humans, animals and the natural environment. Newark-born Booker is represented in the exhibition by Untitled (O). Her prints are created by tearing, layering and recomposing paper into dynamic new forms. Por la Mesa de Mi Abuelita, created by fellow Newarker Willie Cole, is his first handmade paper construction.

New Gallery Devoted to Video Art
The Newark Museum is proud to announce the opening of a new gallery in Picturing America devoted to film and video work. The inaugural installation is a work by Liliana Porter titled Matinee/Matiné. Porter, a native Argentine, has worked in New York for more than 50 years. The work is a recent addition to the Museum’s growing collection of video/film media, joining works by artists including Bill Viola, Sue Williamson, Nam June Paik, Raphael Montanez Ortiz and Dennis Oppenheim.

Matinee/Matiné features a range of characters that Porter has collected from various flea markets and antique shops. In each vignette in Matinee/Matiné, Porter sets these figures in different relationships or dialogues that evoke various feelings that can range from humor to sadness to empathy.

Also Now on View
Reflecting the Museum’s commitment to collecting and displaying contemporary photography, the Pictuiring America currently features selections from Janelle Lynch’s River series and Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons photographic polyptych Blue Refuge. Lynch’s work will be featured at the Robert Morat Galerie Berlin (September – December 2013) and her latest book Barcelona will be published this Fall.