Paintings at Massry Center Standish Atrium Gallery Reveal Artist’s Search for Home and Family

ALBANY (August 14, 2015) — The Esther Massry Gallery at The College of Saint Rose presents “Wild Strawberries” by regional artist and Saint Rose alumnus David Austin, an exhibition in the Massry Center Standish Atrium featuring narrative figure paintings of personal history.

The exhibit opens Friday, September 4, and continues through Wednesday, February 21, 2016, in the Standish Atrium Gallery, Massry Center for the Arts, 1002 Madison Ave., Albany, New York. The exhibit is open during normal building hours.

A gallery reception will be held Friday, September 4, from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. This exhibition is held concurrently with “2 Painters + 1 Sculptor, The Karene Faul Alumni Show” featuring 18 works by graduates of the Saint Rose Art Department, reopening September 4 and continuing through September 20.

Austin’s recent body of work is autobiographical and attempts to capture small moments of life, based on his childhood memories. He works with self-produced as well as found imagery and fuses them together to create spaces where these moments occur. His personal experiences and opinions about politics and social issues play a part in their shaping. Somewhat dark in character, Austin’s paintings contain moments of beauty, hope or promise, often left intentionally without obvious conclusions.

The vision for his latest series of paintings comes from the Ingmar Bergman film “Wild Strawberries,” which tells the story of an older professor’s nostalgic visit back to where he spent his childhood, inspiring a parallel journey for the artist as he embarks on a semi-fictional tour of his own creative origins.

The most common element throughout the work is the sense of light. Light is what defines the shape of the natural world. Light also can be the simplest distraction from the complexity of life. Combined with the use of intense color, the light quality creates another place of being. It establishes a way of looking at the present with a sense of nostalgia.

Austin received his bachelor of science degree in studio art (painting) from Saint Rose in 1995. He has remained in the Capital District ever since and exhibited widely in numerous regional venues including Domestic Dramas, Albany Center Gallery, Albany, New York; Alphabet Show, Fulton Street Gallery, Troy, New York; Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield, Massachusetts; several Fence Shows at The Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy; and Mohawk-Hudson Regionals, where he has received numerous awards including a Purchase Prize from the Schenectady Museum.

Public presentations and lectures include such area colleges as Saint Rose, Union College and Berkshire Community College. Other visiting artist activities have been held at Schenectady High School and Pleasant Valley Elementary School in Schenectady, New York. He also has presented his work to the Sacandaga Valley Arts Network in Mayfield, New York. Since 2006, he has worked as a studio assistant for artist Richard Prince. Austin resides in Troy with his wife Catherine, who also is a Saint Rose graduate, and children.

For more information, contact Jeanne Flanagan, Esther Massry Gallery director, at 518-485-3902 or by e-mail.

**********
The College of Saint Rose (www.strose.edu) is a dynamic, progressive college in the heart of New York’s capital city where teaching is the first priority. With 59 undergraduate programs, nine undergraduate certificates, 37 master’s degrees and 26 graduate certificates, and a mission of service to the urban community, the Saint Rose experience empowers students to improve themselves and the world around them.

#
15-55