Article written by Steven Tanzi
February 15 – March 12, 2021
Burke Gallery at SUNY Plattsburgh
Pop for the People is a pop art exhibit curated by SUNY Plattsburgh English Professor Michael Devine and Amy Guglielmo, the co-founder of Outside Art: The Plattsburgh Public Art Project. The exhibit was inspired by and features art from Devine’s award-winning book of essays, Warhol’s Mother’s Pantry, as well as art from Andy Warhol, Outside Art muralists, past and present Plattsburgh State students, Saranac High School students, and the Art Detectives (a collective founded by artist/educator Adam Kritzer).
The exhibit runs from February 15 through March 12 in the Burke Gallery which is located on the second floor of the Myers Fine Arts building at SUNY Plattsburgh. The gallery is open from Noon to 4 PM Monday through Friday, however it is only open to members of the campus community (faculty, staff, and students). Due to COVID, there are only 10 people allowed in the gallery at a time.
Walter Early, the Museum Preparator at SUNY Plattsburgh, describes this exhibit as “…a lot of fun. The room looks as if pages of an illustrated poetry book exploded onto the wall. The way the exhibit is installed makes your eyes to move around following one piece of art or text to the next. It creates an enjoyable experience to move through the space and builds relationships between the text and artwork.” Many of the pieces are pulled from Plattsburgh State’s permanent collection and Early reassures that these pieces will likely be placed on campus after the exhibit ends, so if you are unable to see the pieces during this exhibit, they will still be around.
Exhibit experiences
For the general public, there will be Zoom events hosted that are related to pop art. For more information or to sign up for the museum’s newsletter, contact the museum at (518) 564-2474 or artmuseum@plattsburgh.edu
On Saturday, February 20 at 10:30 AM Amy Guglielmo will be hosting Pop Art Party- a Zoom event featuring story time and a craft activity for kids! Just make sure to bring paper and crayons to make some patterned pop art hearts! Click here for the Zoom link, which will load you into the video chat.
On Monday, February 22 from 6-7:30 PM join Pop for the People curator M.I. Devine and indie filmmaker and artist Vagabond for Pop Talks: Conversations on Art & Culture. Devine and Vagabond will be discussing Coney Island Fables: The Films of Vagabond. Brooklyn born and borough raised, Vagabond began his career in film working on Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing and has gone on to create works addressing topics such as the Puerto Rican Diaspora (Machetero) and the Nuyorican poets (All Roads Lead to the Fire Escape). A multidisciplinary Pop artist, Vagabond has created murals, posters, pamphlets, and political art in conjunction with the Ricanstruction Netwerk. Check out the trailer for the first video in the Coney Island Fables, Coney Island Dreaming below. Click here to see the whole collection. And click here to join the Zoom meeting on Monday, February 22 at 6 PM.