"Contemporary Illustration: At Your Service!"
"Handmaid's Tale," by Anna Elena Balbusso and "Jet Lag," by Alex Gottardo are among the illustrations at the Adams Gallery.
The Illustration Program at the New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University brings together top illustrators from the United States, Canada and Italy for an invitational exhibit at the University’s Adams Gallery from March 16 through April 28, 2013.
Illustration, at its best, is a demonstration of imagination, insight, wit, expression and technical virtuosity. Contemporary Illustration: At Your Servicepresents a wide range of applications for illustration, from picture books, dolls and skateboards to graphic novels, concept art and advertising for medical devices.
“The nature of illustration becomes clear if you think, not about the look or the style of the art, but about its function,” said Lisa French, director of the New England School of Art & Design Illustration program, who organized the exhibition. “Illustration can involve any media, including photography, collage and sculpture, but, by definition, illustration has a function related to visual communication – to tell a story, to advertise, to express opinion or to symbolize an abstract idea.”
The exhibition will show original illustrations alongside their final applications, and each artist’s work represents a different use of illustration.
The illustration artists in this exhibition are at the pinnacles of their careers, and each has produced award-winning work. Among them are Istvan Banyai, who has a solo show opening at the Norman Rockwell Museum; John Cuneo, one of eight important illustrators in a current exhibition at the Delaware Museum of Art; and, from Europe, the Balbusso twins and Allesandro Gottardo, who have had impressive success as freelancers in the U.S. market.
An opening reception will be held from 5:30 – 8 p.m. Friday, March 22, in the gallery.
Contemporary Illustration: At Your Service
Adams Gallery
David J. Sargent Hall
Suffolk University
120 Tremont St., Boston
Free and open to the public 9 a.m.-7 p.m. daily
