On Jan. 17, the Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) will present “The Bigger Picture,” a collection of portraits curated by Maria Evans. The exhibition will feature work by regional artists Kim Alsbrooks, Mary DeWitt, Elise Dodeles and James Doherty.
By depicting her portraiture on pieces of trash, Philadelphia artist Kim Alsbrooks challenges “American mythology” and widely accepted ideals surrounding wealth and affluence. Her original series, “White Trash,” included Civil War scenes, garden landscapes, fine houses and miniature portraits. Alsbrooks then began painting portraits of her own family members, calling the collection “White Trash Family,” and soon went on to paint other privileged families. Portraits are chosen specifically for each piece of trash.
Since the late 1980s, Philadelphia artist Mary DeWitt has painted the portraits and recorded the thoughts of a select group of incarcerated women serving life sentences. Recently, she began to document the development of each portrait by taking still photographs of the work as it develops. She then adds the voice of the subject with narrative to create a video. Most of her portraits are of women sentenced to life without parole in Pennsylvania. Together these videos document the radical change in prisons from the 1970s to today.
Elise Dodeles, an artist based in Lambertville, received a 2013 Artist’s Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and is included in an international survey of women artists published by Rizzoli. In 2011 she was selected by juror Zoe Strauss for a solo exhibition at the William Way Community Center in Philadelphia. Raised in New York, she did her undergraduate work at Carnegie-Mellon and New York Universities, and obtained her Masters in Fine Art from the New York Academy of Art.
James Doherty is a contemporary figurative painter who lives in Lawrenceville with his wife and two boys in a 1920s “Center-Hall Colonial” where he paints daily. Jim Doherty depicts women on wood he finds at a building site or at the flea market. He believes that a painting should look like it has been painted—not like a photograph. Doherty’s work has been part of the Arts Council of Princeton’s Pinot to Picasso exhibitions for the past several years.
The Arts Council of Princeton, founded in 1967, is a non-profit organization with a mission of Building Community through the Arts. Housed in the landmark Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, designed by architect Michael Graves, the ACP fulfills its mission by presenting a wide range of programs including exhibitions, performances, free community cultural events, and studio-based classes and workshops in a wide range of media.
The exhibition will be on view in the Taplin Gallery to Mar. 14. A Gallery Talk with participating artists Mary DeWitt and Kim Alsbrooks is scheduled for Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. A second Gallery Talk with participating artists James Doherty and Elise Dodeles is scheduled for Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. To learn more, call 924-8777 or visit artscouncilofprinceton.org.
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