Abstract works from Paul Jones Collection on view through Dec. 9

“Magnetic Current,” lithograph and serigraph by Evangeline Montgomery, 2001

10:01 p.m., July 4, 2005--“Abstract and All That: Selected Works from the Paul R. Jones Collection,” an exhibit of 27 artworks by 17 artists important to the abstract movement in America, is on free public display now through Dec. 9 in the Mechanical Hall Galleries at the University of Delaware.

Artists featured in the exhibition include Ellen Banks, Wadsworth Jarell, Alonzo Davis, Michael Ellison, Adger Cowans, Sam Gilliam, Floyd Coleman, Evangeline Montgomery, Hayward Oubre and Leo Twiggs. Included are paintings, prints, constructions, mixed media and batik works.

“This particular examination of images that extend beyond representation are only a part of the broader holdings in the Paul R. Jones Collection and merely scratches the surface of potential investigations of the implications of abstraction as an expressive tool for artists nationally, culturally and individually,” Amalia Amaki, curator of the exhibition and of the Paul R. Jones Collection, said.

“High Tech Sister,” mixed media on board by Felicia Grant-Preston, 2002

“Much can be learned from an objective consideration of the various creative processes applied from the perspective of the personal expressive choices of the artists and as a means to identifying, understanding and interpreting the powerful implications of the work relative to aesthetics of the African Diaspora as well as Euro-America,” she said.

The Paul R. Jones Collection of African American Art is among the preeminent collections of works by 20th-Century African American artists. The collection was given to the University in 2001 by Jones, an Atlanta businessman.

The first major exhibition from the collection, “A Century of African American Art: The Paul R. Jones Collection,” was on view throughout the 2004-05 academic year in the University Gallery in Old College and the Mechanical Hall Galleries.

Untitled acrylic on canvas by Manuel Hughes, ca. 1970

Summer hours for “Abstract and All That” are 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesdays through Fridays, and 1-4 p.m., Saturdays. The Mechanical Hall galleries will be closed from Aug. 19 to Sept. 9. Mechanical Hall is located behind Old College, off North College Avenue in Newark.

For more information, contact Mechanical Hall Galleries at (302) 831-8088 or visit the web site at [www.museums.udel.edu].

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