ART EXHIBIT

He will be the first sculptor to have a one-man show at Opus 40 since Harvey Fite himself.

The show presents Ciccone’s exploration of the element of line, in both two and three dimensions. As Ciccone explains it, his recent work “crosses a metaphorical line, moving from sculpture into more drawings. This process has opened me up to new discoveries of line and form. Whether on paper or in space, I start from a simple line and move into greater complexity.”

THE VISION

Ciccone recently began making gesture drawings as an exercise, drawing quickly and loosely to open himself up to new and unexpected forms. What began as a series of gestures has become an elegant new body of work.At first glance, some of the drawings may appear like Ciccone’sown alphabet of new forms, but on closer examination the alphabet becomes infinite; each new form is entirely unique and spontaneous. The drawings exert a powerful influence over his sculpture, as unexpected materials like steel cable burst into space. The work is always abstract, always expressionist, but sometimes a sense of a figure also comes through.

A BRIEF BACKGROUND

Michael Ciccone is an artist active in NY’s Hudson Valley. Ciccone received his BA in fine arts from Bard College in 1993, spent five years inNew York City, then settled back in the Hudson Valley (Saugerties, NY) in 1998. He shows regularly at the year-round outdoor Unison Sculpture Garden in New Paltz, NY, at Unison’s Sculpture Walk at the Water Street Market in New Paltz, NY, and at Opus 40 Sculpture Park and Museum in Saugerties, NY. His work has also been shown as a part of the Kingston Biennial, and at the Doghouse Gallery, G.A.S. Gallery, Coffey Gallery, Woodstock School of Art, and Arts Upstairs, among many others.…more

A play based on the book 
by Harvey Fite and Tad Richard
Directed by Shelley Wyant

Evening Performance SATURDAY, JUNE 9, 2012 – 6:30 PM

Matinee & Evening Performance SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012 – 3 PM and 6:30 PM

Opus 40 will present the world premier of “The Rocklins,” a short play by Tad Richards, based on a story by Harvey Fite.

Fite originally wrote The Rocklins in 1945, as a children’s book, but he was never quite satisfied with it, and put it aside. In 2010 his stepson Tad Richards, artistic director of Opus 40, reread the manuscript and was struck by the insights it provided into Fite’s aesthetic philosophy. He decided to finish the book for his stepfather, and last year Opus 40 brought out the book, which is for sale now in the Opus 40 gift shop.

The play takes its genesis from the book, but it’s a new and expressly dramatic experience. It is the joint enterprise of Richards and director Shelley Wyant, “without whom,” Richards says, “the play would never have happened. Her suggestions were bold and immediate – and visionary.“