Rowan gallery exhibits Philadelphia artist's exploration of cruelty

Rowan University Art Gallery brings the work of a unique Philadelphia-based artist to the southern New Jersey community with “Elaine M. Erne: Drawings and Prints,” October 12 to November 14, 2009. A reception to welcome the new exhibit is October 14 from 5 – 7 pm, including a gallery talk beginning at 5:30 pm.

Featured in the exhibit is the artist’s series The Lives and Traumas of Stuffed Animals, large-scale graphite pencil drawings and prints depicting stuffed toys in ambiguous, threatening situations.

“The title refers to the narrative component of the works in which the toys are a trope for the traumatic experience of child abuse,” says curator Kathryn McFadden, pointing out that what the artist has created represents the aftermath of cruelty.

“This series has been called ‘comically disturbing depictions of stuffed animals under siege’ and although there is a playful side, the underlining theme of the work is fear, cruelty and survival,” Erne states. “I have found that using humor, however dark, is an important part of dealing with past as well as present dilemmas. The stuffed animals are used as an allegory for children. Often a child becomes like a doll, always smiling, in order to survive a continuing abusive situation.”

Erne received her MFA from Tyler School of Art at Temple University and her BFA at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.  She has exhibited her work widely and most recently in Philadelphia at Nexus/Foundation for Today’s Arts, BahdeeBahdu Gallery, Fleisher Art Memorial, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia Sketch Club and Da Vinci Art Alliance; Maryland Federation of Art; Perkins Center for the Arts in New Jersey; Delaware Center for Contemporary Art; and the Regina Gouger Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Admission to the exhibit and reception is free and open to the public. New gallery hours at Rowan are Monday – Friday, 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday, 12 to 5 pm. For more information, call 856-256-4521 or visit www.rowan.edu/fpa/artgallery. Rowan University Art Gallery is located on the lower level of Westby Hall on the university campus, Route 322 in Glassboro, NJ.