The Dean’s Gallery presents

Original Architectural Drawings and Prints

by Richard Fleischner

Organized by the MIT List Visual Arts Center

May 19–September 8, 2006

CAMBRIDGE, MA— May, 2006. The Dean’s Gallery presents Original Architectural Drawings and Prints by Richard Fleischner from May 19 to August 4, 2006. The exhibition showcases original architectural drawings of Fleischner’s design for the plaza, completed in 1985, adjacent to MIT’s Wiesner Building, home to the List Visual Arts Center and the Media Lab. The plaza includes pavers, benches, and landscaping, all designed by Fleischner. Fleischner developed this work as part of a Percent-for-Art Program collaboration with architect I.M. Pei (MIT ‘40) who designed the Wiesner Building. The Percent-for-Art Program, administered by the List Visual Arts Center, allots money to commission art for each new building project or major renovation. The program was formally instituted in 1968, but earlier collaborations between artists and architects can be found on the Institute’s campus. Other Percent-for-Art works include Dan Graham’s Yin/Yang Pavilion in Simmons Hall and Sarah Sze’s recently installed Blue Poles in Sidney-Pacific Graduate Residence. Publicly sited art also include sculptures by Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, and Pablo Picasso.

A total of 18 drawings are presented at the Dean’s Gallery; among them are two rendered perspective drawings and four cyanotypes. Most of the drawings were done with graphite on vellum and yellow tracing paper. The series of drawings and studies offer different variations on ideas and demonstrate Fleischner’s thinking process.

Richard Fleischner was born 1944 in New York and is based in Providence, Rhode Island. As a sculptor, painter, installation artist, and furniture maker, Fleischner began working environmentally in the 1970s. His sizeable body of work includes landscaping and large-scale public sculpture that emphasizes the relationship of man-made architecture and the natural world. Fleischner has used hay, sod, grass, and wooden structures to create universal architectural forms in a variety of natural settings. The maze, the corridor, the box, and the field are all cultural elements that have figured in Fleischner's work; these elements are utilized in combination with, and in contrast to, features in the natural environment such as trees, hills, sod, and other plants. His style tends towards the low-key and minimal, but he also draws inspiration from his knowledge of historical monumental sites, such as the Egyptian pyramids and Greek temples. The winner of numerous honors including three National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, Fleischner has created and shown his work all over the world.

Location:

The Dean’s Gallery, the MIT Sloan School of Management

50 Memorial Drive, Building E52

Fourth Floor, Room 466

Cambridge, MA 02139

Gallery hours:

Monday - Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm; closed all holidays.

Information about the Dean’s Gallery:

617.253.9458 or http://web.mit.edu/deansgallery

All exhibitions at the Dean’s Gallery are free and open to the public. Wheelchair accessible.