Syracuse University now has some New York City style, thanks to SUArt Galleries.

The gallery, located in the Shaffer Art Building, opened two new exhibits Tuesday. The collection, ‘Run and Tell That! New Work from New York,’ features creations from 21 New York City artists. The pieces in the collection range from bright eye-catching paintings to 3-D pieces.

Though most of the gallery focused on the ‘Run and Tell That!’ exhibit, the gallery also opened ‘From the Studio to the Salon: Selections from The Dahesh Museum of Art and the Collections of Syracuse University,’ a look at European art from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Both collections will remain in the gallery until Jan. 9. Today, several of the exhibit’s artists will hold a panel discussion with the gallery’s curators.

The gallery is co-curated by SU alumnus Eric Gleason, sales director at Marlborough Chelsea, an art gallery in New York City, and David Prince, associate director of the gallery. Prince said all of the art in the show was contemporary, the latest piece dating to 2008.

Prince said a large reason for choosing a modern collection is to attract students to the gallery.

‘The intent of the gallery is to bring recent art from New York City to campus for the art students, and any students interested, to show what is currently being done in New York,’ he said.

Despite the push to draw students in, student attendance for the gallery was low at the 11 a.m. opening.

The gallery was well-organized, put together much like a contemporary museum in New York City. The further into the gallery a visitor wanders, the more the collection varies, with its pieces presented side by side. In one section of the gallery, a large, bright pink mosaic was fixed alongside a decorative chair upholstered with several layers of material.

Kaley Brown, a first-year museum studies graduate student, said the space in the gallery was designed and organized by SU staff and alumni.

There were several 3-D installations in the gallery. Some of the pieces were fixed in the middle of the gallery’s rooms. Brown said these specific pieces are more eye-catching to the average visitor.

‘It gives them something more to interpret,’ Brown said. ‘Artists have different intentions for their work, and they are displayed in their pieces.’

Prince pointed out that there is a diverse list of artists with nationalities ranging from Somalian to Japanese.

‘We also wanted to create a diversity of media and artists, not only in nationality but in gender as well,’ he said.

Some of Prince’s favorite works in the show included a 3-D piece by Valerie Hegarty entitled ‘Autumn on the Wissahickon with Tree,’ which he said is inspired by nature and displays a violently torn-up painting with remains on the ground. The pink mosaic was created by Steven Charles. Entitled ‘still life,’ the artist used different brush strokes and real pictures, which added a different texture and dimension.

Brown said she liked the show, despite the fact that modern art can intimidate some people.

‘If you come into the gallery and take time to look at and appreciate the pieces, you can get a good feeling for them.’

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Published on November 9, 2010 at 12:00 pm

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