Photo: Peter Arron/Esto/The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield Connecticut

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
258 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877
Tel 203.438.4519
Fax 203.438.0198

www.aldrichart.org

Aldrich Art Museum Celebrates Anniversary With Six Exhibitions

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, in Ridgefield, Conn., is kicking off a yearlong celebration of its 50th anniversary with six exhibitions, including one, “Standing in the Shadows of Love,” that looks back at the museum’s first decade, with works by Robert Indiana, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Smithson, Ree Morton and Robert Morris.

Four more exhibitions are devoted to recent works by Taylor Davis, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Michael Joo and Michelle Lopez, artists whose work shows the way the influence from the 1960s and 1970s resonate in current work. The sixth show is an exhibition of new paintings by Jack Whitten, another artist whose works were shown at the museum in its early years. The Aldrich says that the juxtaposition of the exhibitions in the museum’s galleries and transitional spaces is meant to suggest a dialogue between the older and newer works.

The Aldrich, which was founded in 1964 by Larry Aldrich, a collector with a particular interest in contemporary work, has no permanent collection. Although it was originally built around Mr. Aldrich’s holdings, the museum’s board voted, shortly before Mr. Aldrich’s death in 2001, to sell its collection, and to instead mount an entirely new series of shows every six months, using a combination of works on loan from other institutions, and new works created by featured artists for its shows.

The opening of the six anniversary exhibitions, on Sunday, is free, and will include art-making workshops, from 1 to 3 p.m., and docent tours between 2 and 4 p.m. The museum is also holding a gala benefit dinner on Saturday, which includes a preview of the exhibitions.

> via NYT