New Exhibition! Excavation: Recent Photographs by Stanley Greenberg | Press Releases

April 12, 2013 - June 14, 2013

Bellarmine Museum of Art
Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT

Fairfield University's Bellarmine Museum of Art travels to the streets of New York City for its newest exhibition, Excavation: Recent Photographs by Stanley Greenberg ,which opens on Friday, April 12, 2013, with a free reception with the artist (6 p.m. - 8 p.m.) . This show remains on view through Friday, June 14, 2013 . Excavation is the artistic culmination of critically-acclaimed architectural photographer Stanley Greenberg's quest to walk every street in New York City, documenting the typologies - including the interstices - he encounters while traversing the island in search of remnants of a forgotten urban past. Featuring nine large format black and white images and close to fifty smaller color photographs arranged by typologies (Little Streets – Rocks – Buttresses – Empty Spaces – Off Grid), Excavation , with its accompanying catalog and related programming, is designed to introduce its audiences to a whole new way of engaging with Manhattan. Exhibition sponsors are the Whole Foods Market, Moffly Media, Fidelity Investments, the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

With Excavation, Stanley Greenberg (b. 1956) unveils vestiges of New York City's many incarnations by entering into an intimate dialogue with this commanding city. By mindfully walking every street in Manhattan and documenting his discoveries, Greenberg has created a photographic record of an urban history whose co-author - Manhattan itself - has an indisputable pedigree. The resulting works are as visually compelling as they are intellectually challenging, as historically important as they are critically relevant.

Such imagery is entirely characteristic of Greenberg, whose photography explores that which is hidden in plain sight. From metro New York's intricate water systems to urban construction projects frozen in time by his lens, the photographer consistently provides us with new tools for engaging with the built environment.

Excavation continues in this rich line of visual and cultural inquiry, revealing for the viewer the vestiges of a now-lost Manhattan, which in turns informs how we interact with the city as we know it today. Greenberg's evocative photographs bear witness to his conviction that, "... the city is a huge organism, only some of it visible, and we inhabit it, change it, get changed by it."

Stanley Greenberg has authored four photography books: "Invisible New York: The Hidden Infrastructure of the City" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998); "Waterworks: A Photographic Journey Through New York's Hidden Water System" (Princeton Architectural Press, 2003); "Architecture Under Construction" (University of Chicago Press, 2010), and "Time Machines" (Hirmer Verlag, 2011). His honors include a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. Greenberg has exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. His works are in the public collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museum of the City of New York. He has lectured at a variety of locations, including the South Street Seaport Museum, the Borough of Manhattan Community College, the Museum of the City of New York, and the International Center of Photography.

Articles, reviews, and interviews have appeared in Art in America, ArtNews, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Architects Newspaper . Mr. Greenberg has also been a guest on National Public Radio . He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art History, SUNY Stony Brook, and Master of Public Administration from The Maxwell School, Syracuse University. Stanley Greenberg is a native of Brooklyn, New York, where he currently lives and works.

Faculty contributors to Excavation: Recent Photographs by Stanley Greenberg include Kurt Schlichting (Sociology) and Johanna Garvey (English). Dr. Joon Lee also contributed to this exhibition.

Public Programs related to the exhibition include:
Saturday, Apr. 13, 2013, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Family Day: Street Art (best for ages four and up). The Museum is open to the general public from 12 to 5 p.m. Free admission.

Wednesday, Apr. 17, 2013, 5 p.m. Lecture: Robert Shamis (Fine-Art Photographer, Consultant, and Independent Curator) – "Hidden in Plain Sight: Photographs by Stanley Greenberg,"at Diffley Board Room in Bellarmine Hall. Sponsored by the Bellarmine Museum of Art and the Robert Lehman Foundation. Free admission.

Tuesday, Apr. 23, 2013, Thursday, May 16, 2013 , and Wednesday, June 5, 2013, from 12 noon - 1:30 p.m. Screening: Urbanized , a feature-length documentary film by Gary Hustwit about the design of cities, which looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world's foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers. In the Bellarmine Museum of Art smART classroom. Free admission.

An essential component of Fairfield University , the Bellarmine Museum of Art cultivates, inspires, and enriches its many audiences while stewarding the artistic and cultural objects entrusted to its care. The Bellarmine Museum of Art is open Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., while the University is in session, and on select Saturdays. Admission is free. For more information, call the Bellarmine Museum of Art at (203) 254-4046, or visit www.fairfield.edu/museum . The Bellarmine Museum of Art is located in Bellarmine Hall on the campus of Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut. For directions, visit http://www.fairfield.edu/arts/bell_info.html#directions .