Gallery 263 is pleased to announce our upcoming national exhibition, Light vs. Dark. This is the inaugural show of our new exhibition series, “vs.,” where each year’s theme integrates two contrasting ideas into one exhibition. Light vs. Dark features the work of twenty-six artists based in the United States—and is juried by Ruth Erickson, the Mannion Family Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston.

Through paintings, embroidery, photographs, sculptures, monotype, and video, the artists explore the themes of light and dark visually or in the content of the work itself. In Still Life and Holy Ghost, Nicole Duennebier utilizes the old-master technique of chiaroscuro to execute a detailed still life oil painting inspired by natural phenomena. In Bed Jacket, using the show’s theme as a medium, Jeannie Nemeth takes a twentieth-century artifact—in this case, a bed jacket—and places it on photographic paper then exposes it to light. Rooke Hyde explores how shadows represent the relationship between the body and the imperfect representation of the self in Shadow Box.

Featured Artists

Alexandra Basford, Gerardo Castro, Matt Curley, Catherine Della Lucia, Nicole Duennebier, Shawna Gibbs, Andrew Grimanis, Rooke Hyde, Chris Maliga, Kristen Mallia, Carmen Mardonez, Kristina McComb, Michelle McElroy, Gurkan Mihci and Asli Narin, Jeanne Nemeth, William Nourse, Toni Pepe, Amanda Kidd Schall, Tamar Segev, Amy Shapiro, Brendan Sullivan, Werner Sun, Caron Tabb, Edward Wald, Louise Winant

About the Juror

Ruth Erickson is the current Mannion Family Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, MA since 2017. She first joined the ICA in 2012 as a Research Fellow, then became an Assistant Curator and was promoted to Associate Curator in 2016. She additionally contributes to growing the ICA’s collection and oversees the digitization of the collection.

Erickson received her Master of Arts in History of Art in 2010 at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by her PhD in History of Art in 2014. She is a Cambridge resident and has previously juried a national exhibition at Gallery 263, On The Body