Sesnon Gallery’s 40th Anniversary Exhibition opens April 5

The Sesnon Gallery at UC Santa Cruz will toast its 40th anniversary this spring with a special exhibition--featuring a provocative cross-section of what it has offered the campus and community for the past four decades.

Titled Time Lapse: 1971-2011, the show highlights a legacy of programming and exhibitions from Sesnon curators and directors Philip Brookman, Rolando Castellon, Andrea Hesse, Bridget Barnes, Pamela Bailey and Shelby Graham.

A celebration of the Sesnon’s exhibiting artists, Time Lapse features works by Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Gaza Bowen, Eduardo Carrillo, Binh Danh, Richard Diebenkorn, Charles Griffin Farr, Fluxus Artists, Robert Frank, Rupert Garcia, Robert Heinecken, David Ireland, Komar & Melamid, Norman Locks, Hung Liu, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Douglas McClellan, Jennifer Parker & Tina Takemoto, Jennifer Pepper, Pablo Picasso, Jock Reynolds & Suzanne Hellmuth, Holly Roberts, Raymond Saunders, Hank Willis Thomas & Kambui Olujimi, Don Weygandt, Dondi White and Jack Zajac.

The show runs from April 5 to May 7, with an opening reception at the gallery set for Tuesday, April 5, at 6 p.m.

Later that evening, the Sesnon Gallery’s very first director, Philip Brookman (from 1974 to 1983), will present a lecture on groundbreaking British photographer Eadweard Muybridge at 8 p.m. in UCSC’s Mainstage Theater.

Admission for all events is free.

“I had the opportunity at UCSC--which I think is a unique opportunity in many ways--to actually begin working directly with artists and organizing exhibitions as an undergraduate, and from that point on, I never really turned back,” said Brookman, who is now the Chief Curator and Head of Research at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

The Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery and Music Room was established in 1971 through a gift from Barbara Sesnon Cartan in memory of her mother.

The gallery began as a venue for faculty and student curated projects.

“It has since developed into an academic laboratory for the study, contemplation, and critical analysis of contemporary art,” noted current Sesnon director Shelby Graham, who is curating Time Lapse with the help of a number of UCSC art students.
 
For more information, visit the Sesnon Gallery web site.