Alteronce Gumby at the Allentown Art Museum

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Featured Image –  Alteronce Gumby: Dark Matter | at the Allentown Art Museum October 29, 2022, through April 9, 2023

Artist’s first solo museum show opens October 29, 2022

Allentown, PA—The Allentown Art Museum is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition Alteronce Gumby: Dark Matter on Saturday, October 29, 2022, in its upstairs galleries. Dark Matter explores the formal, material, and conceptual complexity of Gumby’s paintings, which reflect a profound fascination with the cosmos. Dark Matter, which marks the first solo museum exhibition of Gumby’s work, was assembled mostly from private collections and includes large-format works, some that fluoresce under black light, and early and more recent works that incorporate shards of tempered glass, gemstones, and other unconventional materials. Dark Matter will continue at the Museum through April 9, 2023.

In his work Gumby employs color as both material and metaphor, deftly harnessing its subtle effects and rich tonal relationships while also exploring color’s capacity to create and convey meaning. By focusing on the power of color to signify, the artist’s practice provokes questions about painting’s relation to larger cultural forces and gestures toward more fundamental issues of identity, agency, and invisibility.

Several of the works on display were created for the exhibition and include in their composition fluorescent minerals sourced from the former Sterling Hill Mine in Ogdensburg, New Jersey.

Ultraviolet lighting in the galleries will allow visitors to experience the glowing colors of these fluorescing minerals.

Alteronce Gumby was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and resides in New York City. He received his BFA from Hunter College in 2013 and his MFA in Painting & Printmaking from Yale School of Art in 2016. Solo exhibitions of his work have been mounted at Koki Arts, Tokyo, 2022; Bode Projects, Berlin, 2021; Charles Moffett Gallery and False Flag, New York, 2021; Parrasch Heijnen Gallery, Los Angeles, 2020; Long Gallery, New York, 2019; the Fondation des Etats-Unis, Paris, 2017; and elsewhere. His work is held in the collections of the Studio Museum of Harlem and the Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, among others.

Allentown Art Museum gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday 11 a.m.-4 p.m. and Third Thursdays 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

Admission to the Allentown Art Museum is always #freeforall thanks to a generous legacy gift from the Century Fund along with lead support from Lehigh Valley Health Network and City Center Allentown and J.B. and Kathleen Reilly.

Alteronce Gumby will be in attendance at a member Preview and Reception on Friday, October 28, from 5 until 8 p.m. at the Museum.

The artist also will give a talk on Saturday, November 12, at the Museum. For more information see www.allentownartmsueum.org.

Alteronce Gumby: Dark Matter is generously supported by George Frederick Mead Merck, the Nicola Vassell Gallery, the Bernard and Audrey Berman Foundation, and the Leon C. and June W. Holt Endowment. In-kind support is provided by the Sterling Hill Mining Museum.

ABOUT THE ALLENTOWN ART MUSEUM

The Allentown Art Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that participates in the cultural, educational, and economic life of the Lehigh Valley. Defined by a unique combination of tradition and innovation, our collections, educational partnerships, community-based programs, and exhibitions are dedicated to inspiring the broadest possible public engagement, access, and service. For more information please visit AllentownArtMuseum.org.

Information and image provided to TVL by:
Chris Potash
Manager of Marketing and Public Relations
Allentown Art Museum