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October 24, 2005
ABSTRACT WORKS BY TWO NEW JERSEY ARTISTS ON VIEW AT BEN SHAHN GALLERIES
Jose Camacho and Sandy DeSando, two New Jersey artists whose works are abstract in nature, are featured in an exhibit titled “Abstraction: Two Views” in the South Gallery of the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University in Wayne from October 24 through November 25, 2005. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. A reception for the exhibit will be held on Sunday, October 30 from 3 to 5 p.m.
Camacho, who works in oil on canvas, incorporates elements that represent his native Puerto Rico in a number of his works, including five horizontal bands borrowed from the five stripes in the Puerto Rican flag. “My creative process is in part a controlled randomness; mixed media and collage has been the technique in which my work has found form,” he explains. In some of his drawings, Camacho works the entire surface with graphite and compressed charcoal, then rubs and presses wax on top.
DeSando’s abstractions are based on landscapes and combine graphite, one of the oldest artistic materials, and hand-painted digital printing ink, one of the latest. The artist, who formerly drew photo-realist landscapes, says she began to feel sadness about New Jersey’s overdevelopment of open spaces. “To counteract the sense of loss of undeveloped landscapes, I created abstract drawings,” she says. “I feel like they come from a place of emergence of continual birth and newness.”
Camacho has exhibited his works in solo and group shows throughout New Jersey, including exhibits at the Newark Museum, Midland Gallery in Montclair, City Without Walls and Aljira in Newark, and as part of the 2004 Transcultural New Jersey initiative. A graduate of Montclair State University, he resides in Montclair.
DeSando has received Pollock-Krasner and E.D. Foundation grants and has participated in residences at YADDO and the Virginia Center for the Arts, among others. She received a Vogelstein grant to create drawings of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Her landscape drawing “Riverbank: Elegy for Booker Little,” toured with the Smithsonian’s “Seeing Jazz: Artists and Writers on Jazz” and appears in the exhibit’s accompanying book. A resident of Jersey City, she served on the board of directors of Pro Arts Jersey City, which worked to form Jersey City’s Powerhouse Arts District, which includes low-income living and working space for artists.
The exhibit is one of three shows currently on view in the Ben Shahn Galleries. “Revelation and Revolution: 150 Years of Women’s Collegiate Fashion,” on view in the Court Gallery, focuses on women’s collegiate fashion in the context of a dynamic American culture and is held in celebration of William Paterson’s 150th anniversary in 2005. On view in the South Gallery is the annual exhibit of works by theWilliam Paterson University art faculty.
The exhibit is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Ben Shahn Galleries are wheelchair-accessible. Large-print handouts are available. For additionalinformation, please call the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University at 973-720-2654.
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