The RISD Museum is truly a great resource for us Brown students. Not only is it a mere three-minute walk from the Main Green, but it’s also free with a student ID. The RISD boasts an impressive collection that includes Monet, Cezanne, Warhol, Van Gogh… the list really goes on and on. While all of these artists are part of the permanent collection, the temporary fall exhibit has just opened up featuring works not normally seen at the museum.
And what is this new exhibit you ask? It’s called “What Nerve” and deals with alternative figures in American art from 1960 to the present day. By alternative figures, I mean depictions of the body that subvert the audience’s expectations. Some of these images are highly sexual, so discretion is advised. However, alternative doesn’t mean strictly sexual. Artists such as H. C. Westermann, Jack Kirby, and William Copley take influences from sources as varied as comics and poetry in order to portray figures that tackle important modern issues.
The exhibit opened in the Chace Center Gallery on September 20th and goes until January 4th. Critics have called it “an ambitious revisionist history of later 20th century art” (Art in America), so I would highly suggest taking a much needed study break and heading down the hill to check it out. The museum is open Tuesday-Sunday from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. and is open late Thursday until 9 P.M.