Press Release: Paul Henry Ramirez

Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College to present colorful, exuberant installation by Paul Henry Ramirez

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.—A new work by New York City painter Paul Henry Ramirez, described by Artforum magazine as “a sensual formalist and a formal sensualist,” will be on view Nov. 2, 2002, through Jan. 5, 2003, at the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, in an exhibition entitled Elevatious Transcendsualistic.

In this second of the Tang’s series of “Openers”—exhibitions that showcase upcoming artists and new works—14 Ramirez paintings, each measuring eight feet by two feet, will be on display in the museum’s atrium. The candy-colored, loopy paintings feature biomorphic shapes ranging from bulbs to tendrils, which The New York Times has described as “complex, naughty, and elegantly refined.”

Using the paintings as his starting point, Ramirez will create a site-specific installation that will begin with the large canvases and then escape onto the adjoining walls, in the form of blocks of solid color the artist will paint directly onto the museum’s surfaces. The dynamic style exemplifies Ramirez’s approach to architectural space as an empty canvas into which to extend his playfully organic images.

That sense of visual animation will also be extended into dance, in the form of an original contemporary dance work choreographed by Skidmore professor and dancer Debra Fernandez and performed by students from the Skidmore Dance Program. The performances, which will take place in the Tang atrium amid the artworks of the Ramirez installation, will begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday and Tuesday, Nov. 16 and 19, and at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 17. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $5 for students and senior citizens. For more information, call 518-580-8080.

Ramirez grew up in El Paso, Texas, and attended the University of Texas at El Paso and Raritan Valley College in New Jersey. His work has been exhibited in numerous solo shows and in group exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Bronx Museum, the Austin Museum of Art, the Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, and the Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris in midtown Manhattan.

About his work, Ramirez has said that “Juicy, swirling paint suggests the internal and external rhythm of the body. I use this visual vocabulary of sensual images to highlight the comedy of our bodily functions….[and to] simultaneously evoke a childish innocence and a sexual provocativeness.”

Elevatious Transcendsualistic was organized by Ian Berry, curator of the Tang Museum, in collaboration with the artist, and made possible with support from the Friends of the Tang. The Tang Museum is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and closed Mondays and major holidays. Admission is free. For more information on exhibitions and events, call 518-580-8080 or go to www.skidmore.edu/tang.

The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College opened its doors in October 2000, offering a range of programs designed to explore cross-disciplinary communication among all areas of study through the visual arts.

Skidmore College, located in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., is an independent, liberal arts institution with an enrollment of approximately 2,200 men and women. The college offers the bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees in more than 60 areas, including majors in both traditional liberal arts disciplines and in such fields as business, the fine and performing arts, and social work. Skidmore is known for its interdisciplinary curriculum.

PDF: Opener 2: Paul Henry Ramirez: Elevatious Transcendsualistic Paul_Henry_Ramirez_PR.pdf