Andrea Belag
{{Short description|American painter}}
{{Infobox artist
| image =
| name = Andrea Belag
| alt =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1951}}
| birth_place = New York City, US
| field = Contemporary Abstract Paintings
| training = New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture
| works = Brooklyn Transitions
MTA Arts & Design
| awards = John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
}}
Andrea Belag is a contemporary abstract painter. Belag studied the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture after attending Boston University and Bard College. She was a Faculty Member at the School of Visual Arts, in New York from 1995 to 2021.{{Cite web|url=https://sva.edu/faculty/andrea-belag|title=School of Visual Arts | SVA | New York City | Fine Arts and Graphic Design School in New York City|website=School of Visual Arts | SVA | New York City}}
Belag creates abstract artworks that are influenced by Zen gardens, nature, and contemporary art. In 2017, she completed Brooklyn Transitions, a commission located at Avenue U in Brooklyn for the MTA Arts & Design. 30 permanent glass artworks were installed on both the northbound and southbound platforms.{{Cite web|url=https://new.mta.info/agency/arts-design/collection/brooklyn-transitions|title=Brooklyn Transitions|website=MTA}} Belag was awarded a commission by the New York Cultural Council to do a site-specific art installation for Fire Station EC268 LC137 in Far Rockaway, Queens for 2026.{{cite web|url=https://www.nyc.gov/assets/designcommission/downloads/pdf/10-18-2021-pres-DDC-FDNY-p-EC268.pdf|title=New Fire Stations: Engine Co. 268/Ladder Co. 137}}
Biography
Belag was born in Manhattan. She attended New York Studio of Drawing, Painting & Sculpture after attending Boston University and Bard College. She taught painting and drawing at School of Visual Arts, Princeton University, State University at Purchase, and the Maryland Institute College of Art.
She curated exhibitions for the Jersey City Art Museum,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/07/archives/new-jersey-weekly-art-celebrating-the-painted-line-in-jersey-city.html|title=ART|first=David L.|last=Shirey|work=The New York Times |date=October 7, 1979|via=NYTimes.com}} Kansas City Art Institute, Morgan Lehman Gallery,{{Cite web|url=http://hyperallergic.com/496292/andrea-belag-inheritance-morgan-lehman-gallery/|title=Confronting Loss Through Abstraction|first=Alfred Mac|last=Adam|date=April 27, 2019|website=Hyperallergic}} as well as co-curating The Feminine in Abstract Painting at The Milton Resnick & Pat Passlof Foundation.{{Cite web|url=http://hyperallergic.com/808821/milton-resnick-and-pat-passlof-foundation-the-feminine-in-abstract-painting/|title=The Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation Presents The Feminine in Abstract Painting|first=Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof|last=Foundation|date=March 24, 2023|website=Hyperallergic}}
Work
Belag is known for her abstract oil paintings and works on paper that have emotional impact through color, light, performative gesture and spatial complexity.{{Cite web|url=https://www.artrabbit.com/events/andrea-belag-currents|title=Andrea Belag. Currents. – Exhibition at Bienvenu Steinberg & Partner in New York|website=ArtRabbit}}
Belag's work has been exhibited in Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey; Mead Museum, Amherst;{{Cite web|url=https://www.amherst.edu/museums/mead/exhibitions/2002/bellesofamherst|title=The Belles of Amherst | 2002 | Amherst College|website=www.amherst.edu}} Newark Museum, NJ; New Jersey State Museum, NJ; Heinz Holtmann, Cologne,Germany; Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany and Jeddah Collection, United States Embassy, Saudi Arabia.
Julian Kreimer stated, "In Belag's work, that rightness comes in the form of Beauty with a capital B, beauty in the capacious sense of possessing a profound sense of authenticity that comes from something that feels legitimate to the artist who made it first, and transmitting that profound sense of order and connection, mysteriously, to the viewer."{{Cite web|url=https://paintersonpaintings.com/julian-kreimer-on-andrea-belags-sunday-painter/|title=Julian Kreimer on Andrea Belag's Sunday Painter|date=April 17, 2019}}
In 2023, Belag spoke to Paul Laster of Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art and commented, "I love transparency and the touch of materials, so I have created a way of painting where I make this possible. I use mostly transparent pigments and fine linen, and I paint wet into wet. The marks are on one layer of the painted surface with very little overlap or pentimento. Color makes space and light come through the paint and emotion comes through as well. There is fear and desire in painting, and that's addictive."{{Cite web|url=https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/sixteen-questions-andrea-belag/4054|title=Sixteen Questions for Andrea Belag|website=Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art}}
Collections
- Art in Embassies, United States Embassy, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Jewish Museum, New York
- Newark Museum, New Jersey
- New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey
- Morris Museum of Arts and Sciences, Morristown, New Jersey
- Mead Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts
- Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany
Selected solo exhibitions
- SHFAP, Ghostwriter, New York, New York (2016)
- Phillip Slein, Beachcomber, St. Louis, MO (2018){{Cite web|url=http://www.philipsleingallery.com/andrea-belag|title=Andrea Belag|website=PHILIP SLEIN GALLERY}}
- Morgan Lehman Gallery, Inheritance, New York City (2020){{Cite web|url=https://www.morganlehmangallery.com/exhibitions/the-pursuit-of-aesthetics|title=The Pursuit of Aesthetics – Artwork Created During Quarantine – Exhibitions – Morgan Lehman Gallery|website=www.morganlehmangallery.com}}
- Bienvenu Steinberg & J, Currents, New York City (2023){{Cite web|url=http://www.bsandj.com/exhibitions|title=Exhibitions – Bienvenu Steinberg & J|website=www.bsandj.com}}
- New Collectors Gallery, NY., "Under the Pergola", 2022
==Awards and honors==
- 1984 – NJ State Council of the Arts Fellowship{{Cite web|url=https://www.state.nj.us/state/njsca/dos_njsca_grants-artists.html|title=New Jersey State Council on the Arts|website=www.state.nj.us}}
- 1987 – National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
- 1999 – Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
- 2002, 2001, & 1994 – Yaddo Residency
- 2003 – Rockefeller Foundation Residency in Bellagio, Italy{{Cite web|url=http://www.bsandj.com/exhibitions/andrea-belag|title=Andrea Belag – Exhibitions – Bienvenu Steinberg & J|website=www.bsandj.com}}
- 2022 – Purchase Prize, American Academy of Arts and Letters
References
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Category:American abstract painters
Category:New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture alumni
Category:Boston University alumni
Category:Princeton University faculty
Category:State University of New York at Purchase faculty
Category:Maryland Institute College of Art faculty
Category:21st-century American painters