Locals attend Jamie Wyeth show reception at Farnsworth

Mon, 07/08/2024 - 4:30pm

Story Location:
16 Museum Street
Rockland, ME 04841
United States

    Captain Rusty Court of East Boothbay and his son Eben Court were at the Farnsworth in Rockland on Friday, July 5 for the opening reception  of Jamie Wyeth’s new exhibition, “Unsettled.” The exhibition runs through Sept. 29. 

    From the venue website, “This exhibition traces a persistent vein of intriguing, often disconcerting imagery over the career of renowned artist Jamie Wyeth (born 1946). Frequently countered and even hidden by Wyeth’s fuller body of work—particularly his well-known coastal views and farmscapes—the darker and more troubling imagery is constant throughout his oeuvre. Whether he is introducing curious characters or surveying strange landscapes, Wyeth is at home with uneasy subjects and a master of the unsettled mood.

    “Among the goals of this examination of Wyeth’s work is the intentional disentanglement of his work from that of other family members. Looking at Jamie Wyeth’s work in isolation may still suggest affinities with the darker work by other generations of his family, such as the grim story of The Drowning (1936) by N.C. Wyeth or the frozen corpse of Karl Kuerner in Andrew Wyeth’s Spring (1978), but it does not form the starting point of the investigation. Not intended as a retrospective, the exhibition will follow the development of Wyeth’s skillful, cinematic shorthand that has the power of creating a sense of anxiety in the viewer. A focused look at Wyeth’s arresting, visceral imagery will provide fascinating insight into the artist and the art of visual storytelling. Fiercely independent in the face of prevailing art world trends, Jamie Wyeth stands apart in a shadowy and strange world of his own creation.

    “The exhibition will be accompanied by a major catalogue published by Rizzoli Electa, with a lead essay by Amanda C. Burdan, Senior Curator at the Brandywine Museum of Art and organizer of this exhibition.

    The Farnsworth Art Museum is at 16 Museum St.  For more information and tickets: www.farnsworthmuseum.org/