This summer, the Farnsworth Art Museum (16 Museum St., Rockland) presents “Jamie Wyeth: Unsettled,” a major exhibition that traces a persistent vein of intriguing, often disconcerting, imagery over the career of renowned artist Jamie Wyeth. Organized by the Brandywine Museum of Art, this exhibition features works drawn from museums and private collections nationwide. Revealing fascinating insight into both the artist and the art of visual storytelling, “Jamie Wyeth: Unsettled” will be on view at the Farnsworth Art Museum from July 5 – Sept. 29.
“Jamie’s ability to evoke the uncanny in his work is truly remarkable,” said Christopher J. Brownawell, Director of the Farnsworth Art Museum. “We are honored and energized to bring this blockbuster exhibition to Maine, offering a unique opportunity to delve into Wyeth’s unsettling imagery and his mastery of visual storytelling.”
A celebrated figure in contemporary art, and fiercely independent in the face of prevailing art world trends, Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946) stands apart in a shadowy and strange world of his own creation. While his coastal views, farmscapes, and portraits are well known, a consistent thread of darker, more troubling imagery has woven its way through his work over the past six decades. His evolution as an artist has seen him transition from the ultra-realistic visions and virtuoso brushwork of his youth, into a mature expressionism in which intense color and dramatic paint handling electrify his canvases. Through each stage of his career, Wyeth has demonstrated comfort with uneasy subjects and a mastery of evoking an unsettled mood.
“This is a bit of a homecoming,” said Jaime DeSimone, Chief Curator at the Farnsworth Art Museum. “Jamie Wyeth had his first-ever solo exhibition at the Farnsworth. Through his masterful compositions and nuanced palette, Wyeth extends an invitation to rediscover the depths of vulnerability and resilience within ourselves, illuminating the human condition in a profound new light.”
This exhibition aims to disentangle Jamie’s work from that of his family members, N.C. and Andrew Wyeth, focusing solely on his unique artistic journey. Not intended as a retrospective, the exhibition will follow the development of Wyeth’s skillful, cinematic shorthand that has the power to create a sense of anxiety in the viewer. A focused look at Wyeth’s arresting, visceral imagery will provide fascinating insight into the artist and the art of visual storytelling.
“Jamie Wyeth: Unsettled” opens on Friday, July 5, coinciding with Rockland’s First Friday Art Walk. A celebration will be open and free for all from 5 to 8 p.m. A fully illustrated catalog of this exhibition, co-published by Rizzoli Electa and the Brandywine Museum of Art, is available for purchase at the Farnsworth Store and online at farnsworthmuseum.org.
More information about the museum may be found at www.farnsworthmuseum.org
