News
October 13, 2022Albany Institute of History & Art | Paul Scott: New American Scenery
The Albany Institute of History & Art is currently hosting the exhibition Paul Scott: New American Scenery in which material-based conceptual artist Scott assesses the American landscape from a contemporary approach. The exhibit will run until Dec. 31, 2022. Through the work in the exhibit, Scott deals
with issues of globalization, energy generation and consumption, capitalism, and immigration, and the human impact on the environment.
Scott, who lives and works in Cumbria, United Kingdom, creates printed ceramics that blur the boundaries between art, craft, and design. His works are included in numerous museum collections and have been exhibited throughout Europe and the United States. Scott is represented by Ferrin Contemporary.
He has studied the Albany Institute’s collection of historical transfer-printed ceramics, paintings, drawings, and prints and debuts new works inspired by these collections in the exhibition. Scott’s first visit to the Albany Institute in 2016 revealed a wealth of materials, including a mammoth transfer-printed jug made in
the 1820s for Troy merchant Horace Jones. With dozens of other historic transferware ceramics, and collections rich in landscape art, including Hudson River School paintings, the Albany Institute offered Scott abundant inspiration for his New American Scenery series.
“New American Scenery references and updates the original transferware made by British factories,” Scott explains. “My work is a personal response to being in and traveling in America.” The images that Scott creates for his ceramic plates, platters, and pitchers depict unsettling views of nuclear power plants, landfills, abandoned industrial sites, aging urban centers, and isolating walls. As representations of the American landscape, they suggest a subversion of the picturesque aesthetic—the unpicturesque picturesque—and a new, disturbing norm, a new way of envisioning ourselves, our physical environment, and our society.
Additionally, Scott reworks historic printed ceramics through collage and the process of erasing, reprinting, and reglazing pieces to incorporate additions. The past and present join together on single works where airplanes soar across platters and wind turbines loom over pastoral fields.
Doug McCombs, Albany Institute Chief Curator and curator for the exhibition notes, “Paul Scott: New American Scenery brings together historical ceramics, paintings, and drawings from the Institute’s collection and pairs them with Scott’s contemporary works. Together, they create a dialogue between past and present— between the romanticized and nostalgic views of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the realities
of modern-day America.”
“The exhibition provides viewers with an engaged experience, where images emerge and delight in unexpected ways,” McCombs added. “As you move through the show you experience an unfolding of history and objects and their entanglement with current ecological issues. The exhibition encourages conversations
about the American landscape, environmentalism, and our place within these histories.”
Multi-year funding from the Alturas Foundation through an artist-in-residence grant allowed Scott to travel through the U.S. to research these historic transfer-printed ceramics. Additional support was provided by his gallery, Ferrin Contemporary. Research into transferware archives at Spode, V&A Wedgwood, and the
V&A Prints & Drawings Department in London was made possible by funding from Arts Council England.
Public Programs
Guided Gallery Tours with Paul Scott
Saturday, November 5, 2022, 5:30pm – 8:00pm
During this special after-hours gallery tour, artist Paul Scott will lead guests through the exhibition Paul Scott:
New American Scenery. Two tour times are available (5:30 PM & 6:45 PM). Enjoy wine, beer, or iced tea and
light fare either before or after the gallery tour. Reception 5:30 – 8:00 pm sponsored by FERRIN
CONTEMPORARY, North Adams, MA. Cost: $35 per person.
Lecture | Paul Scott: New American Scenery
Sunday, November 6, 2022, 2:00pm – 3:00pm
In this lecture, artist Paul Scott will discuss his artistic process and provide exclusive insights into Paul Scott,
New American Scenery. This event is included with gallery admission.
Exhibition support is provided Alan P. Goldberg, William M. Harris and Holly A. Katz, and Charles M. Liddle III. Season exhibition and program support is provided by Phoebe Powell Bender, Mr. and Mrs. George R. Hearst III, Charles M. Liddle III, Lois and David Swawite, and the Carl E. Touhey Foundation, Inc. Program and exhibition support is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
