Ryan McGinness "Black Holes" Mural Dedication with the Mural Arts Program, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, and the University City Science Center
October 11, 2013
Mural Arts Program, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, University City Science Center and Wexford Science & Technology: A Biomed Realty Company present Ryan McGinness’ Black Holes
WHAT: Mural Dedication: Black Holes
World-renowned artist Ryan McGinness’ monumental Black Holes series is an exploration of how ideas of outer space and mind space can intertwine. The work features layers of “event horizons,” creating a feeling of portals into an infinite inner space, and a strong gravitational pull on the senses.
WHO: Jane Golden, Bridgette Mayer, Ryan McGinness
Funded by: University City Science Center, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Wexford Science & Technology: A BioMed Realty Company.
WHEN: Friday, October 11, 2013, 5:30 – 8 p.m.
WHERE: University City Science Center, 3701 Market Street
DETAILS: Ryan McGinness received his BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA and has been an active artist since 1996. His work has been the focus of solo exhibitions throughout the world (New York, Los Angeles, Madrid, Tokyo, Helsinki, Milan, Paris, Munich, amongst others), including shows at the Cincinnati Art Museum and upcoming exhibitions at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (September 2013) and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Fall 2014). He has been the subject of fourteen books, and “Sketchbook Selections” – a book focused on his extensive practice of sketching ideas – was just released by Gingko Press. His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Albright Knox Gallery in Buffalo, the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, and many others. An excerpt from the artist speaking on his Black Holes series: "Early precursors to the Black Holes are these dandruff pieces which reference outer space, stars, and hyperspace. I became very interested in how some of the ideas in theoretical physics could be used as metaphors for exploring the mind. Representing the accessibility of an inner space in the mind through aesthetics has been a strategy employed by many religions. I wanted to evoke the same kind of feeling by taking those symbols representing fanciness already used in my paintings and concentrating them into one picture plane toward a singularity."
The Mural Arts Program is the nation’s largest public art program, dedicated to the proposition that art ignites change. For nearly 30 years, the Mural Arts Program has united artists and communities through a collaborative process, rooted in the traditions of mural-making, to create art that transforms public spaces and individual lives. Mural Arts engages communities in 50 to 100 mural and public art projects each year, including a restoration program that maintains the collection. The murals also create unique project-based learning opportunities for thousands of youth and adults in the Art Education for Youth, Restorative Justice, and Behavioral Health programs. The Mural Arts Program has created over 3,600 murals and works of public art, earning Philadelphia international recognition as the “City of Murals.” Each year, 14,000 residents and visitors tour the Mural Arts Program’s outdoor art gallery, which has become part of Philadelphia’s civic landscape and a source of pride and inspiration. For further information, call (215) 685-0750 or visit www.muralarts.org. Follow along on social media at: twitter.com/muralarts, youtube.com/phillymuralarts, or on Facebook at: http://on.fb.me/y4Vo9E.
Bridgette Mayer Gallery
Since its establishment in 2001, the Bridgette Mayer Gallery has represented and exhibited artists whose work displays the variety and genius of contemporary art now being created in the United States. The gallery’s ongoing exhibition program will continue to support established gallery artists even as it looks beyond the US to discovering and cultivating new talent from around the globe. The gallery exhibits painting, sculpture and photography with an emphasis on innovative process and content-driven ideas that speak to beauty, technology, culture and the contemporary landscape. Housed in an historic 1799 Philadelphia brownstone, the gallery presents ten exhibitions a year in its 3,000 square foot space and participates in numerous art fairs in the US.
To Learn More: bridgettemayergallery.com
University City Science Center
Founded in 1963, the Science Center is the oldest and largest urban research park in the United States. We support technology commercialization and technology-based economic development on our campus and in the Greater Philadelphia region. Our 31 nonprofit shareholders include many of the distinguished colleges, universities, hospitals, and research institutions located throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
Our goal is to inspire a community of knowledge. We provide lab and office space for start-up, growing and established companies. We offer business incubation, support services and programming for entrepreneurs and start-up companies. We help move technology out of the lab and into the marketplace, where it can benefit the region and the world.
To Learn More: sciencecenter.org
Wexford Science & Technology: a BioMed Realty Company
Wexford Science & Technology, LLC is a private real estate investment and development company that meets the growing and specialized facilities needs of for-profit and not-for-profit institutions, including universities, university-related research parks and healthcare systems. Wexford collaborates with its client institutions to create and build knowledge-based communities, which are vibrant, mixed-use, amenity-rich environments where innovation thrives. Wexford owns or has interests in properties comprising approximately 2.5 million rentable square feet. Wexford’s objective is to become a long-term partner with its institutional clients, supporting strategic organizational growth in significant, value-added ways while strengthening the communities in which Wexford works.
To Learn More: wexfordscitech.com