Image: © Estate of Mark Morrisroe (Ringier Collection) at Fotomuseum Winterthur, “Blow Both of Us,” 1978/1986, Vintage chromogenic print (negative sandwich).

Artworks by Mark Morrisroe and David Armstrong will be on view in “Under a Dismal Boston Skyline” at Boston University’s Stone Gallery from September 14 through October 28, 2018:

‘Under a Dismal Boston Skyline’ examines the city as witness to intensely concentrated moments of artistic experimentation over the last several decades. The exhibition reexamines a group of practitioners working in the late 1970s and 1980s, collectively known as the Boston School. Considering resonances between this group and other iconoclastic artists working outside of Boston’s culturally conservative mainstream, the exhibition connects the Boston School to other artists in the city who have set their own terms for art, life, and community.

Taking its title from a photograph by the late Boston School artist Mark Morrisroe, Under a Dismal Boston Skyline proposes a loose lineage of artists from the late 1970s to the present, tracing affinities in materials and subject matter. With a particular focus on photography, video, and performance, the works in the exhibition challenge archetypes of identity, gender, and community. Across the decades, a rapidly changing city, at once dismal and beautiful, hostile and nurturing, cultivated Boston’s counter-cultural underground. Under the city’s skyline, and under different circumstances and time periods, the artists in this exhibition sought to represent their friends, families, haunts, homes, lovers, and selves.

Participating artists are: Art School Cheerleaders, Bobby Abate, Marilyn Arsem, David Armstrong, Creighton Baxter, Genesis Báez, Melanie Bernier, Dana Clancy, Dead Art Star, Óscar Díaz, Bonnie Donohue, Nan Goldin, Candice Camille Jackson, Maura Jasper, Cindy Kleine, Justin Lieberman, Steve Locke, Mark Morrisroe, Cobi Moules, Luther Price, Esther Solondz, Mike and Doug Starn, Gail Thacker, Shellburne Thurber, and Suara Welitoff.

The exhibition is curated by Lynne Cooney, Artistic Director, Boston University Art Galleries; Leah Triplett Harrington, Independent curator, writer, and editor; and Evan Fiveash Smith, MA Candidate, History of Art and Architecture, Boston University.

“Under a Dismal Boston Skyline”
September 14 – October 28, 2018

Stone Gallery
Boston University
855 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215

Browse Mark Morrisroe’s work at ClampArt
Browse David Armstrong’s work at ClampArt

Blog post by:
Raechel McCarthy, Director