Real or Imagined, Attleboro Arts Museum, 2021
In January 2021, the Attleboro Arts Museum posted an online national call-for-artists requesting artwork that reflected the undeniable or dabbled in the hypothetical. After coping with months of hardship and confusion activated by health, social and political issues, U.S. artists had ample fuel to explore and respond to the organization’s Real or Imagined theme. And that they did.
416 artists from Alaska to Florida digitally submitted 756 works of art for guest juror Clare Bell, Senior Director of Exhibitions at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to review. After careful consideration, 95 works were selected are on view in the Museum’s Ottmar Gallery from June 16th – July 15th, 2021.
“This year’s exhibition theme surfaced dreams, fears, struggles, comfort zones and points of curiosity. The experiences and restrictions of 2020/2021 have deeply impacted the visual arts community nationwide,” comments Mim Brooks Fawcett, the museum’s Executive Director and Chief Curator and author of the exhibition’s theme for this year. The museum has been mounting an annual exhibition of national work inspired by a range of unique concepts for nearly 15 years.
