Summer Exhibit Unveils New Acquisitions

Experience 45 of the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art’s recent acquisitions at a stunning summer show. The exhibition features works by three dozen artists, including Americans Richard Artschwager, Laddie John Dill and Louisiana Bendolph of the Gee's Bend quilters, contemporary Chinese artist Yue Minjun, and numerous local artists.

“New Acquisitions: Selections from the Modern and Contemporary Collection,” appears through Friday, Aug. 16, thanks to generous support for the Westmont Acquisition Fund and from several art collectors and artists themselves.

The museum’s summer hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday; closed on Saturday, Sunday and college holidays. For more information, please call the museum at (805) 565-6162.

Dill, an American artist associated with the California Light and Space Movement, is known for his mixed-media paintings and gas-charged tube sculptures. His use of nontraditional materials, such as sand, cement and natural oxides, give an earthy texture to his paintings.

Artschwager’s objects straddle the line between illusion and reality. His works make no distinction between the two-dimensional and interactive worlds. His piece in the exhibition, “Dinner (A),” is constructed with newsprint-gray painted Celotex — a common type of insulation board — and wood-grain Formica. Upon closer scrutiny, the viewer discovers a single diner seated at a wooden table about to eat a meal.

Bendolph belongs to the younger generation of quilt makers associated with Gee’s Bend. She starts her process with a sketch and then moves into improvisation and innovation using bright, new fabrics.

Minjun, based in Beijing, China, is best known for his inventive take on self-portraiture, usually frozen in maniacal laughter in various settings. Pop art and surrealism influence his brightly colored depictions.

Donors to the exhibition include the Berkus Family, Jim and Dianne Bess, Robert and Judy Egenoff, Marie and Arnold Forde, Mitchell Johnson, Amanda McIntyre, the Jens Pedersen Family, Dewayne and Faith Perry, Robertson Family Trust, Teresa Rounds, Susie Schlesinger, Clifford Temps, Bob Tuttle, and Byron and Nancy Wood.