Amelie A. Wallace Gallery is pleased to share the virtual exhibition Confronting Wilderness: The Art of John Day, which goes live on January 25, 2021. Since 1980, John Day’s work considers the natural environment. His practice deploys installation, assemblage, and drawing to focus on the human relationship to nature and the changes we have wrought upon the natural world. On his myriad journeys through Northeastern American forests and nature preserves, Day has encountered the mystery of natural phenomena that is the source of his insights and comments on humanity’s conflicted relationship with the natural world, producing works that reference inward journeys as much as physical ones.
Day is a gatherer. Observing and collecting the images, memories, and natural materials of his art—tree branches, vines, reeds, and other natural elements—that he combines with photographs, drawings, paintings, field notes, and video to create his oeuvre, Day devotes weeks, sometimes even months, exploring off trails in nature preserves to find the materials that will create immersive experiences of the wilderness that demand contemplation of what little remains of the natural world. Some works combine Stone Age processes (e.g., lashing branches together) with contemporary methods (digital printing and video). As is fitting, his installations have been constructed not just in galleries, but also in forest preserves,. While some works comment on the existential relationship between humanity and nature, evoking a sense of being lost or venturing into the unknown, still other works reference the harsh realities of deforestation, the loss of natural habitat, and the devastation caused by climate change.
John Day graduated from Cornell University in 1967 with a BFA in fine arts, where he studied with Jim Dine and Robert Richenburg, who had a decisive influence on his artistic development. Following Peace Corps service in the Philippines, he lived in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Connecticut, and began observing the landscape, which led to the development of paintings based on farmland and forest settings. In Connecticut, he traveled to state parks and began producing sculptures and installations using natural materials gathered from forests and farmland. His first large scale installation, Grove Circle, was completed near a forest trail in 1980. In 1984, two room-size installations, Metacomet Voices and Corn Scaffold, were exhibited at the Old State House Museum in Hartford.
After moving to New York City in 1986, Day continued his work with a series of paintings based on travels to wilderness preserves in the Northeast. These medium- to large-scale paintings are primarily abstract; they have been exhibited in the New York area. Day has also made large- and small-scale installations in forest preserves and galleries in New York, from materials gathered from the local area. In 2000, he produced a large-scale temporary installation, Grove Spiral, for Muttontown Nature Preserve on Long Island. In 2004, he completed the installation Landmarks at Leeds Pond Preserve, Port Washington. In 2007, he exhibited Symbiosis, an installation of branches and vines, at the College of New Rochelle. Other recent installations include Heliotrope at SUNY Old Westbury, Portal at the Dumbo Arts Festival in Brooklyn, Reliquary at the Great Neck Arts Center, Thicket at the Steinberg Museum, LIU Post, NY, and Helix at the Glenwood Gallery, Glenwood Landing, NY. Day’s work also includes wall-based mixed media assemblages and large-scale drawings that engage with his wilderness experience. Reviews of his exhibitions have been published in The Hartford Courant, Art New England, The Middletown Press (CT), The New York Times, and The Artists Forum (online). For more about John Day’s art, visit his website: https://www.johnwday.com.
In this virtual exhibition, selected works of installations, assemblages, and drawings will be viewable, along with videos and brief accounts of each work.
Formally dedicated on May 22, 1979, the Gallery is named for the late Amelie Alexanderson Wallace in recognition of her unflagging support of the College and her personal commitment to the arts at Old Westbury. The Gallery exhibits Contemporary art by emerging and mid-career artists, as well as works by faculty and students of the Visual Arts Department. Public programs designed to accompany exhibitions comprise lectures and discussions led by artists and curators, as well as live performances and video presentations.
