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News: Ben Schonzeit at The Nassau County Museum of Art, July 29, 2016

Ben Schonzeit at The Nassau County Museum of Art

July 29, 2016

Work by Ben Schonzeit, previously seen at the Museum in the exhibitions, Still Life: 1970s Photorealism and Garden Party, is featured in a solo exhibition that reveals an entirely different aspect of the career of this artist, who is a central figure in the American Photorealist movement. This is very different from the realist work seen in the concurrent A Feast For The Eyes exhibition. The Contemporary Gallery exhibition showcases Schonzeit's collage and sculptural work -- abstract figurations of human forms or portraits that give new life to his materials. Work by Ben Schonzeit has been seen in solo and group exhibitions throughout the U.S. and Europe and is widely included in public collections. A native of Brooklyn, he now lives and works in SoHo.

Feast for the Eyes, guest curated by Franklin Hill Perrell, explores how food has always inspired artists. The exhibition opens on July 30, 2016, and remains on view through November 6, 2016. Feast for the Eyes, a sweeping two-floor exhibition focused on food and dining in art, features works by a sweeping array of artists, including Audrey Flack, Red Grooms, George Grosz, Henri Matisse, Claes Oldenberg, Cindy Sherman and Andy Warhol, among many others.

Drawn from a wide variety of media, the exhibition offers viewers eclectic portrayals of feasts, eateries, restaurants, cafés, groceries, and table settings. Included are luscious depictions of edible delights by artists such as Ben Schonzeit, Gina Beavers, Luigi Benedicenti and Wayne Thiebaud. Berenice Abbott contributes iconic 1930s photographs of the Automat and other dining destinations of New York City. The designer Judith Leiber makes fabulous jeweled evening bags modeled after sensuous fruits and vegetables.

Stylistically, the works range from a classic 1908 still life by William Merritt Chase to a 1973 Pop Art painting by Roy Lichtenstein. Caricaturist Al Hirschfeld shows celebrity diners from stage and screen in his famed line drawings while The New Yorker's Roz Chast pens humorous cartoons on a range of culinary topics. Photorealistic works from the 1970s to the present day by Don Eddy, Ralph Goings and others portray a variety of gastronomic experiences. Among the Long Island artists represented in Feast for the Eyes are Frank Olt, Susan Cushing, Richard Gachot, Bruce Lieberman, Christian White and Joe Szabo.


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