This past Saturday I attended Marywood’s on-campus triple gallery opening. All three galleries (Mahady, Maslow and Suraci) had different shows and artists but I couldn’t pick a favorite. For the next few posts I’ll be highlighting my favorite pieces that you can go see for yourself in each of the galleries (anytime from now to the end of October). The Mahady Gallery features the art collections of Liz and Jeff Russell and their extensive reward for being art collectors for 4+ decades. While some of the artists are personal friends of the couple, all the artists have had extremely successful careers. For example, names like Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns may ring a bell from when you studied them in an art history class. While it has always been an honor to help put together gallery openings this one felt extra special with the large range of high profile artists I got to view all in a single day.

The exhibition spans several decades and multiple Art movements including my favorites like Pop Art, Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism etc.

Within the Mahady gallery, there is no one theme in the pieces that attracted me, even in my favorites there’s not one consistent factor I was drawn to. I’ve found when it comes to art, I don’t always need to analyze the exact factor that catches my eye. Sometimes I can just accept that the piece in front of me resonates for some invisible reason. Out of the 42 artists and 50 total works featured in this collection, here are my top four in no particular order.

Ok, I lied they ARE in order from my most favorite to my least favorite (aka still a notable favorite). In the comments below tell me your favorite(s) in Mahdy! While the gallery talk for this showing already happened at the originally opening, the next gallery talk in the Suraci is happening on Monday October 2nd at 2pm. Mark your calendars for the talk on The Stories We Tell Ourselves by Stephen Garrison.