The Student Union Art Gallery proudly presents Pictured Thoughts, an exhibition curated by Sean Greene. Greene has assembled a body of work from six artists who practice making art as a means to externalize their internal visual worlds. The exhibition will be on display beginning November 15th through December 3rd during normal gallery hours, Monday through Thursday 10 am to 5 pm and Fridays, 10 am to 3 pm. A reception will be held at the gallery on Tuesday, November 16th from 4 to 6 pm. In addition, several of the participating artists will be present at the reception.

Since the advent of photography and film, the job description of painters and drafts-folk in western culture has moved away from accurate depiction of the world we all know and opened up to the unknowable territories of the internal human consciousness. On one branch of our array we find the deceivingly simple works of Cary Smith, who carves out a narrow field of tightly drawn rules that open up possibilities for seemingly infinite variations on visual play. On another we are affronted by Matt Tiernan’s psychedelic realism, where photorealistic inhabitants appear to be quite at home in a turbulent abstract universe. Looking elsewhere, we may find respite in the quietly powerful works of Lucy Mink, who absorbs the everyday patterns of her life and delivers palpable sensations of color and emotional intensity.

Over years of disciplined studio practice each of these artists has developed his or her own strategies for making things that are engaging and interesting to look at. As we look, we unravel some of the goings on in the personal worlds of these individuals. There is a certain clarity of intention visible in the discreet activities that are revealed through sustained looking. Values and opinions are exposed, doors opened to thoughts, and as we walk away from these works, back out into the world we have become used to, we may see a little differently, we may even think differently. If the artist has clearly pictured her thoughts, and we have successfully absorbed them, the fog may be momentarily lifted from our minds and eyes and we may have a sense of elevation, we may see the wonder of the human existence.

Sean Greene earned an MFA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2004, where he was awarded a three-year teaching associateship, and a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan in 1996. He has received grants from the Northampton and Somerville arts councils. He has had shows at Wunderarts (2008) in Amherst, MA and the A.P.E. Gallery in Northampton, MA and exhibits regularly in group shows around the Northeast, including current shows at William Baczek Fine Arts in Northampton, and the Artisphere in Arlington, VA, both through the end of November. His work is in private collections in the United States and in Europe, and has recently been purchased by the Neiman Marcus Corporation. Sean lives and works in Florence, Massachusetts