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'Western New York Collects': Allan D'Arcangelo on view at Castellani Art Museum

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Wed, Jun 12th 2019 02:40 pm

The Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University continues its “Western New York Collects” series with an exhibition of works by Allan D’Arcangelo. An opening reception will be held from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19. The exhibition will be on view from June 23 through Dec. 13.

D’Arcangelo (1930-98), born in Buffalo, was an internationally recognized artist whose work spanned five decades. His first solo exhibition in New York was held at the Fischbach Gallery in 1963, and was “well received and earned Mr. D’Arcangelo a place in the first generation of “Pop artists” (New York Times). He exhibited regularly in Europe and New York throughout the 1960s and joined the Marlborough Gallery in 1971. Starting with the 1964 New York World’s Fair, he executed numerous mural commissions, both public and private.

D’Arcangelo was the recipient of a 1987-88 Guggenheim Fellowship. Throughout his career, he had solo-exhibitions at many prominent institutions, including: Ileana Sonnabend Gallery, Paris; Marlborough Gallery, New York; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Neuberger Museum of Art, State University of New York, Purchase; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Burchfield Center (now Burchfield Penney Art Center), Buffalo State College; and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York. In 2005, a retrospective of his work opened at the Palizzina dei Giardini in Modena, Italy.

D’Arcangelo received his Bachelor Degree in history from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1953. He joined the U.S. Army in the mid-1950s and used the GI Bill to study painting at Mexico City College from 1957-59. He moved to New York City in 1959 and, according to the artist’s estate website, was “in search of the unique American experience. It was at this time that his painting assumed a cool, removed aesthetic reminiscent of Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol.”

D’Arcangelo studied at the New School of Social Research and the City University of New York City College. It was during this time he became familiar with the work of the Abstract Expressionist painters – the predominate style of the time. He went on to teach at noteworthy institutions in New York, including the School of Visual Arts (1963-68 and 1982-92) and Brooklyn College (1973-92).

“Western New York Collects: Allan D’Arcangelo” is the fifth in a series of exhibitions that highlight the work of a diverse range of visual artists with Western New York connections who have gained significant national and international recognition. This exhibition features paintings, sculptures, prints and editioned works – spanning three decades – which have been selected from public and private collections.

Collectively, these works form a cohesive exhibition with representative examples of the creative output of D’Arcangelo’s exemplary career, while also serving to reinforce the scope and strength of the collector base in this region.

This ongoing series honors the role local collectors play in creating and maintaining an enduring artistic legacy for Western New York.

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