WonderLands
Works by James Rauchman and Gayleen Aiken
Exhibition on Display at the GRACE Gallery
April 21st - June 30th
Artists Talk and Screening of San Lazaro’s Night
May 19th, 6pm, GRACE, 59 Mill Street, Hardwick VT
WonderLands is a visit to two strange and marvelous worlds: James Rauchman’s visit to Cuba, and Gayleen Aiken’s homestead in Barre, VT. Shown side by side, Rauchman and Aiken’s works are opposite and similar at the same time. Both artists - Rauchman, an outsider documenting a foreign culture as a trained artist, and Aiken, an outsider artist documenting her own imaginative life - invite us into other places through moments of mischief, celebration, intimacy, and connection.
As an artist, Rauchman plays self-consciously with photorealism in autobiographical contexts. In this series, Rauschman shares his experiences as an outsider on the island of Cuba in the early 2000s. Ushered through intimate spaces by a close friend, Rauchman’s perspective as the painter remains outside of the experience. The paintings capture the flash of a camera, fleeting intimate moments of familial ease, and sacrificial rituals performed as part of San Lazaro’s Night - a holiday of the syncretistic religion of Santeria. It is only in Initiation that we see the artist amongst his subjects - an obvious foreigner in a culture. All are invited to further explore this subject in Rauchman’s short film San Lazaro’s Night. A screening of the film will take place at GRACE on May 19th, 2023 at 6pm.
This selection of Aiken’s work highlights her fictional Raimbilli Cousins in various moments of mischief and fun. Aiken began painting as a child and continued through her lifetime. As an only child with a disability that often kept her home, Aiken invented a rich cast of characters. In scene after scene, the viewer is introduced to her cohort of cousins, their unique individual personalities, and their devious tendencies. In her lifesize cutouts of the cousins, Aiken brings her characters off the page and into three dimensions. Aiken’s work disarms the viewer with humor and imagination. All are invited to continue their relationship with these characters by making an appointment to explore our entire collection of Gayleen Aiken’s works.
James Rauchman: A Cuba Journey
“I first visited Cuba in 1997 and have returned more than 40 times. Even after all these visits to the island, Cuba still seems like a strange place, and trying to represent its poses a huge challenge for me as an artist. I have approached it as a subject in both paintings and videos.
One night in Havana I met a young man on the street who became a friend and my guide to the city and the surrounding countryside. We made several trips around the island, and I took snapshots of the life he showed me. I was the outsider looking in. When we parted ways, I arranged some photos into a storyboard and used them as the inspiration for a series of paintings. I think of these paintings as frames from a personal documentary that plays in my mind.”
About the Artist:
Rauchman received his BFA in painting from Goddard College in Plainfield, VT in 1974. He later painted and studied Art Education in Philadelphia before receiving his MFA in painting from Colombia University in 1987. His work has been included in numerous group exhibitions in Philadelphia and New York, including shows at Marian Locks, CRG, Mitchell Algus, Bowery, First Street, and Sideshow Galleries as well as the 2006 Havana Biennial. Over the past 45 years, Rauchman has had solo exhibitions at Bachelier-Cardonsky Gallery in Kent, VT, The Arsenak Gallery in Manhattan, the Interchurch Center in Manhattan, The Art Factory in Havana, Cuba, and most recently at River Arts in Morrisville.
Rauchman has had an ongoing relationship with the Vermont Studio Center since its founding in 1984, was an artist in residence at the MacDowell Colony in 1985, and received a Pollock Krasner award in 1997. Since moving to Vermont in 2020, he received an Audience Favorite Award for his participation in the ‘Land and Light’ exhibit at th Bryan Gallery in Jeffersonville (2022) and has proudly displayed works in the yearly Members Exhibition at The Current in Stowe.
GRACE Heritage Artist: Gayleen Aiken
While attending GRACE programs, Gayleen Aiken came to embody the GRACE’s philosophy - that anyone who wanted to be an artist could be. For the past 48 years, GRACE has prided itself on providing exhibition space for “outsider” artists. The term “outsider” refers to individuals without formal art training. As a result of her involvement with GRACE, Aiken’s work has been shown in significant exhibits of American folk art in the US and Europe. Her work was added to the permanent collection of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum of American Folk Art in Williamsburg, Virginia.
After her death, the estate of Gayleen Aiken was donated to the GRACE. We estimate there to be at least 1000 items; including works on paper, paintings, works on cardboard, and countless ephemeral items from Gayleen’s home and life, including her player piano which is featured in so many of her drawings.
Our goal this next year is to digitize Gayleen’s body of work and add it to our online Digital Archive so that anyone may view this expansive collection at any time. This fall, Gayleen’s work will be traveling to Baltimore, MD to be a part of an exhibition of outsider art at the American Visionary Museum.
About the Digital Archive:
GRACE has been collecting Outsider Art for many years. We estimate that our collection has grown to more than 3000 pieces and includes over 30 artists. Out of this abundance of works, we are in the process of selecting pieces to be a part of a permanent collection.
The Digital Archive is a project with the end goal of creating a fully digital database of the artworks in our permanent collection as well as the artworks that are available for sale. Funded by the Vermont Arts Council, the Digital Archive will help spread awareness about the merits of outsider art in a fully online, accessible platform - bringing these works into a new era.