Between Observation and Intervention: The Painted Photographs of Melvin Charney [Entre l’intervention et l’observation : les photographies peintes de Melvin Charney]

Over more than thirty years, Montréal artist Melvin Charney has produced a corpus of very powerful works in which art meets architecture. Depicting various built-up sites, Charney’s works–be they drawings, photographic works, sculptures, installations or public pieces–portray mainly the city and interpersonal relationships.

The exhibition shown at the Americas Society features works from the painted photographs series begun in 1989, in which stylized portrayals of buildings are superimposed on newspaper photographs. The exhibition offers an opportunity for the public to familiarize itself with a major aspect of the work of one of Canada’s most renowned artists and to become aware of the role cities play in the 21st century.

Melvin Charney is well known in Canada and Europe, where his works have been shown many times. Among his main public pieces are the magnificent garden of the Canadian Centre for Architecture (Montréal) and the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights monument (Ottawa).

CREDITS

The Americas Society would like to thank the following donors for their generous support: Government of Canada, Consulate General of Canada in New York; Gouvernement du Québec, Québec Government Office in New York; Parnassus Foundation (Jane & Raphael Bernstein), Power Corporation of Canada and Rosamund Ivey. The exhibition was also made possible thanks to the New York State Council on the Arts and the support of the Nicholas Metivier Gallery.

The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec would like to thank the following donors and partners for their generous support: American Apparel Canada, Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc., Webster Foundation, anonymous donors, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Melvin Charney would like to thank the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for its support.

From May 1 to July 31, 2008, Americas Society (New York)

Americas Society
680 Park Avenue at 68th Street
New York, NY 10065
(212) 249-8950

http://www.americas-society.org