PRESS RELEASE / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The William Benton Museum of Art at the University of Connecticut Presents
Stark Images: The Male Nude in Art
In-Difference: Reflections on Race
January 21 through March 13, 2016
Opening Reception: January 21, 4:30 to 7 pm
Storrs, CT, January 6, 2016–– The William Benton Museum of Art on the University of Connecticut campus at Storrs is kicking off the new year with an opening reception for two new exhibitions on Thursday, January 21 from 4:30 to 7 pm.
Stark Images: The Male Nude in Art considers the male body and its various representations over the last four centuries, from depictions in the fine arts to those in the media and popular culture. The exhibition explores diverse themes relating to masculinity and the fluid notion of gender, including body form, homoeroticism, athleticism, virility, manliness, and its ever-changing aesthetic. The artists represented include Roger Crossgrove, Benjamin Degen, Eric Fertman, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Barkley L. Hendricks, and Nancy Spero.
In-Difference: Reflections on Race presents the works by a group of graphic design students in the university’s School of Fine Arts who employed typography, color, and motion to grapple with the question, What is race? In a digital exhibition of moving text, they visually communicate personal experiences with race while using no more than six words. Their desired goal is to initiate a discussion of the current state of race relations on campus and make visible those issues that are frequently pushed below the surface.
Both exhibitions will remain on view through March 13, 2016.
FREE PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Wednesdays from January 27 through March 9, Noon
“Art in Small Bites”
A new series of docent-led conversations about rarely seen works of art from the museum’s permanent collection.
February 12, 5:30 to 7pm
“Exploring Masculinity in Modern Culture”
A panel discussion with Dr. Daniel Silvermint, Philosophy and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, UConn; Dr. Thomas Long, Nursing and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, UConn; and Dr. Sherry Buckberrough, Art History, University of Hartford.
March 4, 5 to 7pm
The Salon at the Benton: “Re-seeing Race in America in the 21st Century”
This latest program in the Benton’s popular Salon series will expand the dialogue centered around the 2015-2016 UConn Reads book selection, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Panelists to be announced.
THE WILLIAM BENTON MUSEUM OF ART, Connecticut’s official state art museum, is located at the University of Connecticut, 245 Glenbrook Road, Storrs, CT. HOURS: Tuesday through Friday 10 to 4:30 / Saturday and Sunday 1 to 4:30 / 860-486-4520 / www.benton.uconn.edu / Admission is free. Donations are gratefully accepted.