M | I | C / A || THEN / NOW

MICA: THEN/NOW showcases what generations of artists created back "then" and what new generations are creating "now" after over one hundred and fifty years of artistic pursuit. Viewers will see how the unique visions of individual artists have developed over a wide span of years, since many of the participating artists will be represented by work created early in their career, as well as by their current images or objects. The artists in this show all graduated at least 10 years ago from the undergraduate program of Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), one of the nation's oldest and top art schools.

Barry Nemett, Chair of the Painting Department at MICA since 1992, has curated MICA: THEN/ NOW for two simultaneous exhibitions at Ethan Cohen New York in Chelsea, New York City and at Ethan Cohen Fine Arts/ Kunsthalle Beacon (KuBe, www. KuBeNY. org), in Beacon, New York.

The Chelsea gallery exhibition addresses innovative two-dimensional works, containing broad representational and observational approaches. A drawing by Morris Louis is a distinctive, unusual example of his more well known work; Jeff Koons' print is an early and rare example connecting to his present art practice; and the painterly work of Donald Baechler features a single, iconic, multi-layered yellow flower.

In the second venue - at the KuBe, a former high school converted into an arts center located three minutes away from Dia: Beacon - the presentation feature large scale installations and accommodates many more works. There are three 30-foot sculptures by Frank Hyder - located outside the front entrance, in the former gymnasium, and on the roof. Two site-specific sculptures by Jason Peters wind through a 100-year old beech tree at the main entrance and highlight the rooftop glass greenhouse. 

The two contrasting exhibition venues - Ethan Cohen's New York gallery and the sprawling Kunsthalle Beacon - have made this ambitious undertaking possible, a bit of here and there to go along with then and now.

This exhibition is dedicated to the legacy of Fred Lazarus IV, President of Maryland Institute College of Art from 1978 through 2014. 

Ethan Cohen Fine Arts and Barry Nemett extend a special thanks to MICA for its generous support of this exhibition.

PARTICIPATING ATISTS:
STUART ABARBANEL
DONALD BAECHILER
ORLY COGAN
BROCK ENRIGHT
AARON FINK
STEPHANIE GARMEY
PETER GREAVES
FRANK HYDER
KEVIN KEARNEY
FAWAD KHAN
MORRIS LOUIS
HERMAN MARIL
RITA NATAROVA
COURTNEY PUCKETT
NEIL RILEY
JOSEPH MAXWELL MILLER
BOB SALAZAR
JOYCE J. SCOTT
TONY SHORE
SHINIQUE SMITH
AARON SOPHER
HOWIE WEISS