A newly opened exhibition at the Queens College Art Center features sculptures inspired by works of master artists.
“IllusionAllusion” opened on May 6 and will be on display through Wednesday, June 30. Life-sized wood cutouts created by artist Susan Sills make up the exhibit.
Sills, who has done both solo and group exhibitions, is a resident of Brooklyn and a graduate of Queens College. She has exhibited in New York, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania, among other places. Outside of the country, her works have been shown in Japan and France.
The pieces in the exhibition are plywood cut-outs painted with oil. Sills has reinterpreted works by well-known master artists such as Vincent Van Gogh.
“Renoir’s dancing couple, Velasquez’s princess and Gauguin’s Tahitian maiden all somehow change when they enter our rooms,” Sills said of the pieces. “Bringing these characters into the 21st century creates another issue. If we are to relate to them on a personal level, they must somehow be in our world.”
Sills also said that it is possible for these works to have a different meaning once they have been recreated.
“With props and unexpected combinations, each character can take on an entirely new meaning. With wit and sometimes humor, a new story is born,” she said. “Some of the commentary is art-referential, a twist on another art form or another esthetic: art about art. Some of the works are simply the figures as illusion. ‘Is that really someone over there?’”
There is no charge to see “IllusionAllusion,” which is open to the public.
The Queens College Art Center was created in 1987, following the 1960 founding of Queens College Art Library’s gallery. According to its web site, the center’s mission is to “provide the means for participating in and upholding a democratic society through learning, adaptation, and critical thinking.” It also uses its exhibits to support the school’s educational and cultural goals.
The Queens College Art Center is located on the sixth floor of the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, located on the school’s campus at 65-30 Kissena Boulevard in Flushing.
It is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through May 25. From May 26 to May 28 it will be open 1 to 5 p.m. In June, it will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
For more information, visit www.qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/Art_Library/artcenter.html or call 718-997-3770.
Photos Courtesy Queens College
The newly opened exhibition “IllusionAllusion” will be on display through June 30.
