Art Gallery Lecture – Bradford Johnson and Dan Siedell

Gordon College is pleased to host a conversation and art lecture between Boston artist Bradford Johnson and New York art historian and critic Dan Siedell at the Gallery at Barrington Center for the Arts, this Wednesday, April 26, 6–8 p.m. Free food and drinks will be provided, and the art gallery will be open to view Bradford Johnson’s new exhibit, “1933—Year of the Monster.” Johnson’s paintings stage an imaginary exploration into the history of the legend of Loch Ness and the disturbing parallel between news reports about the monster and the rise of Hitler in the 1930s.

Johnson writes of his paintings:

“Since my childhood this monster story has had a simmering hold on my imagination. It became a weirdly resonant legend when I thought about the fantastic possibilities that might lie just beneath the surface of an ordinary world. But it also evolved into a metaphor for the equivocal relationship between evidence and belief. Set against the certainties of the Biblical faith I was raised in, the tension between eye-witness accounts and “scientific” searches in the murky water was irresistible. Even as I painted other subjects, I found myself returning time and again to the enigma of perception, comprehension, and conviction in this story.”

During the closing reception on April 26, Johnson will talk about the work with visiting art historian Dan Siedell, a professor at The King’s College in New York and author of God in the Gallery.

For more information, contact Peter Morse, Manager, Barrington Center for the Arts at 978.867.4751 or via email at [email protected].