"Aerial Perspectives: Paintings by Burt Hasen," opens Monday, Sept. 9, and"War and Peace: Russia in the Age of the Napoleonic Invasion," a collection ofartifacts by Franklin Sciacca, opens Saturday, Sept. 14. Both exhibits will beon display through Oct. 27, and are free and open to the general public. Areception will be held Saturday, Sept. 14, from 4
to 6 p.m.
Aerial Perspectives showcases New York-based artist Burt Hasen's largeenigmatic painting style with abstract aerial views of the earth as seen froman airplane. Ruins of roads and buildings and other terrestrial features,viewed from a great height, become a web of interrelated shapes or eventswithin an interior landscape, as Hasen explores a realm beyond actualappearances.
Born in 1921, Hasen served in the Army Air Corps in World War II on a groundcrew that maintained bombers. The exhibit, with paintings dating from 1988 tothe present, displays his dynamic vision, with mysterious convulsions andcollisions and the destructive and creative events of his fantastically mappedinner world.
War and Peace: Russia in the Age of the Napoleonic Invasion is a smallerexhibit, arranged by Franklin Sciacca, director of Russian studies at HamiltonCollege. Sciacca assembled the collection in conjunction with a course on theTolstoy novel. His display brings together over 50 artifacts relating toRussian culture of the early 19th century, organized around five themes:Russian peasantry, Russian Orthodox Church, Russian aristocracy, Napoleon andthe War, and allegorical images.
The Emerson Gallery is located on the first floor of Christian A. JohnsonHall, directly behind the Hamilton College Chapel. Gallery hours are noon to 5p.m., Monday through Friday, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. Thegallery is closed national holidays. For more information, contact the EmersonGallery at 315 859-4396.
