OLU OGUIBE BRINGS A NEW ENGLAND STONEWALL
TO REAL ART WAYS

Opening reception: Saturday, October 23, 2010
6-8 PM | FREE
Through March 20, 2011

Olu Oguibe, Mgbidi, New England field stones, 36"x36"x108", 2009.
Image courtesy of the artist.

Hartford, Connecticut – Conceptual artist Olu Oguibe brings a 40-foot New England stonewall into the Real Art Ways gallery to examine its role as an iconic amalgamation of geology, history, craft and metaphor. Working together with local masons and using area field stones, Oguibe has created a stonewall as a neo-minimalist gesture where the natural and cultural histories of New England take form and become art.

There will be a free opening reception Saturday, October 23 from 6-8 PM. Real Art Ways is located at 56 Arbor Street in Hartford's Parkville neighborhood.

Oguibe describes the New England stonewall as both a line and a limn, an illuminated space where the natural and cultural histories of New England take form and become art. By moving the stonewall into the gallery space, and making it part of the vocabulary of conceptual art, Oguibe hopes to generate a new, inclusive discourse that draws no line between aesthetic or formal concerns, on one hand, and environmental, cultural, or social discourses, on the other.

Oguibe, an international artist whose work often deals with place, says, "I believe that it is time that New England artists rebuild the bridge between art and the museum public. By returning to the peculiar natural elements and forms that define the region and its environment, I hope this exhibition helps renew the public's interest in the beauty and uniqueness of the region."

Also opening in the Real Art Ways galleries, Saya Woolfalk's Institute of Empathy invites visitors into another world to illuminate how ideas in our culture develop. Cary Smith, best known for his geometric abstract paintings, shows a new body of work entitled We Are the Dollars and Cents. All three exhibitions open Saturday, October 23. The openings are part of Real Art Ways' 35th Anniversary Kickoff Weekend.

ABOUT OLU OGUIBE
Olu Oguibe is a conceptual artist whose work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions around the world, including the biennials of Venice, Havana, Busan Korea, and Johannesburg, South Africa as well as the Whitney Museum; PS1-MoMa; the Smithsonian; the Irish Museum of Modern Art; Migros Museum, Zurich; Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastrich; Whitechapel Gallery; Royal Festival Hall; the United Nations Headquarters; and many others. He has also served as curator or co-curator for many international exhibitions including shows at the Tate Modern in London and the Venice Biennial. Oguibe is a Professor of Art and Art History at the University of Connecticut.

This exhibition was made possible with the support of our members, National Endowment for the Arts, The Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation, Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Greater Hartford Arts Council's United Arts Campaign, Travelers, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Sandy and Howard Fromson, The Wallace Foundation, Lincoln Financial Group, Maximilian E. & Marion O. Hoffman Foundation, The Nimoy Foundation, and The Artist's Resource Trust (A.R.T.) Fund.

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