2024 NEW CLASSICAL EXHIBITION AT GORDON COLLEGE

In the past twenty years, there has been a growing movement of younger artists practicing a classically inflected form of painting and sculpture. To some eyes this group appears to act as though modern art never happened. Where are the deliberate distortions of the human form, the jagged and confrontational compositions? Where are the protests over social inequities and power relations? The in-your-face challenges to taste and decorum?

These painters and sculptors are sophisticated and quite aware of modernism and its social implications, yet have chosen a different path from their contemporaries. Critics of the group––often referred to as the “atelier movement”––have opined that it is retrograde, as though art history only moves in linear fashion, leaving behind “passé” art forms. This view takes its lead from avant-gardism—a kind of militant rejection of tradition.

But these young painters and sculptors beg to differ.

Robert Armetta and Juliette Aristides are two of the most accomplished painters of the new “classical” movement—and their work reveals how fresh and compelling traditional approaches to painting can be in the 21st century. There is nothing stale, nothing clichéd. Their work feels truly fresh and contemporary even as they pay homage to past traditions. There is genuine vitality and vision evinced in the works on display here at Gordon College’s Gallery at Barrington Center for the Arts. And we are honored to mount this show, hoping that by doing so we enable a more nuanced conversation about tradition and innovation—revealing to students, faculty and campus visitors that Gordon prizes both skill and insight in the art we hold up for public attention.

As curator it is my pleasure and honor to present “NEW CLASSICAL” as my last curatorial effort, having organized over 100 exhibitions since 1990—most of which were more obviously modern and contemporary. Showing the beautiful paintings and drawings of Armetta and Aristides should point us all toward a more open dialogue on the nature of artistic evolution.

We look forward to welcoming guests to campus to see the masterful work of these two artists and to hear about their artistic journeys in an informal gallery talk.

Bruce Herman
Curator and Director
The Gallery at Barrington Center for the Arts

Tag me on Instagram @juliettearistides

People are talking. Join the conversation.