Please join us at the Wagner College Gallery for “A Better Window than a Door,” an exhibition of paintings by Rebecca Levitan and Emily Zuch, on display from Thursday, Aug. 18 through Saturday, Nov. 5.
Both Levitan and Zuch teach in Wagner College’s Department of Visual Arts.
This is the first time either artist has exhibited on Staten Island.
A gallery reception will be held on Friday, Sept. 16 from 5 to 8 p.m.
Both the reception and the exhibition are free and open to the public.
The gallery is located in the Union Building on the Wagner College campus at 631 Howard Ave., Staten Island.
The Wagner College Gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Thursday until 9 p.m.
The paintings included in “A Better Window than a Door” are concerned with the experience of looking through things. Showing the world through magazine pages, postcards, printouts, mirrors and windows, they navigate the rapid shifts in perception between two-dimensional images and the three-dimensional world that makes up so much of the experience of contemporary life. Patterns, vibrant color, attention to detail and a varied approach to mark-making are present in the work of both artists, together creating an overall effect of kaleidoscopic color, light, surface and space.
Levitan and Zuch both use the mundane as a jumping off point; the subject matter is commonplace, but by paying close attention to the endless amount of visual information that can be found, day-to-day existence is transformed into something strange and unexpected. Levitan’s paintings cite paper models, restaurant menus and how-to videos through which, upon a second look, intimate narratives unfold. In Zuch’s work, objects repeat themselves as if they were recurring characters seen through a room from different perspectives, creating a sense of familiarity alongside the disorienting sensation of seeing a space bent by a series of reflections.
Rebecca Levitan is an artist who lives and works in Brooklyn. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Harvard College in 2012 and her M.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2018. Her work has been shown at the NARS Foundation, the Kenise Barnes Fine Art gallery and the Asya Geisberg Gallery, among others. Recent activities include a residency at the Triangle Arts Association in Brooklyn and inclusion in New American Paintings #152. She is currently an assistant teaching professor at the University of Rhode Island.
Emily Zuch, also based in Brooklyn, earned her B.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2008 and her M.F.A. from the New York Studio School in 2011. Her work has been shown at the Susquehanna Art Museum, the Liman Gallery and the Empty Circle, among others. The winner of a Fulbright Fellowship and the Hohenberg Award, she has attended residencies at Yaddo, the Golden Foundation, the Jentel Foundation and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. Zuch currently teaches at Wagner College, the Pratt Institute and the Borough of Manhattan Community College.
For more about the artists, visit their websites at rebeccalevitan.com and emilyzuch.com.
For more information about the Wagner College Gallery, contact gallery director Jenny Toth at jtoth@wagner.edu.
