***The Steven Assael Exhibition in The Art Gallery, Sturgis Library will not be open for evening or weekend hours during the break between Summer and Fall Semesters.
The Art Gallery will resume normal evening and weekend hours beginning Saturday, August 16.***
Release Date: July 29, 2008
Steven Assael exhibit at Kennesaw State features photo-realist art from New York, Los Angeles
Contact: Cheryl Anderson Brown, Assistant Director of Public Relations, 770-499-3417 or cbrown@kennesaw.edu
KENNESAW, Ga.—“Steven Assael: Solo Exhibition” will be displayed in the Sturgis Library Gallery at Kennesaw State University, Aug. 7 through Oct. 9. New York City artist Steven Assael, nationally acknowledged as a leading figurative artist, will share his works portraying photo-realistic human figures. Whether clothed or nude, the subjects of his drawings and paintings combine Assael’s mastery of technique perfected by artists from the past with an appreciation and sensitivity to modern-day subjects.
Works from the Forum Gallery in New York City and Los Angeles will be on display for the community to view in this exhibit. Director of Museum and Galleries Will Hipps will serve as curator of the exhibit. “Assael is an extremely skillful master painter of the live model. Through his extraordinary use of the visual vocabulary of painting, he is able to reveal essential characteristics of each model's psyche or personality,” he says.
Assael’s figures are drawn from live models, some of these models chosen directly from of the street. Recent work portrays the isolation felt by young people, showing models covered with piercings, tattoos and costumes. His paintings and drawings are a study of human character, creating photo-realistic images that reveal the interaction between the artist and the subject. The mastery of technique revealed by Assael’s figures is superceded only by the emotional impact created by the human quality of those figures.
Born in 1957, Assael is a graduate of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. He now teaches at Pratt Institute and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. His paintings and drawings have been displayed in solo and group shows across the country. In addition to displaying his works at KSU, Assael will also give an artist’s workshop as part of the visiting artist program sponsored by the KSU Department of Visual Arts.
The opening reception will take place Aug. 28 from 5 to 8:30 p.m. in the Sturgis Library Gallery. Admission to the “Steven Assael: Solo Exhibition” at Sturgis Library Gallery is free. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday; and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. For more information, visit www.kennesaw.edu/arts or call 770-499-3223.
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A member of the 35-unit University System of Georgia, Kennesaw State University is a comprehensive, residential institution with a growing student population of more than 20,000 from 142 countries. The third-largest university in Georgia, Kennesaw State offers more than 60 graduate and undergraduate degrees, including new doctorates in education and business.
The KSU College of the Arts is one of only four Georgia institutions to have achieved full national accreditation for all of its arts programs.