ERNEST JOLICOEUR: ERASED LANDSCAPES

Ernest Jolicoeur: Erased Landscapes

October 5 – November 2, 2023

Opening Reception:  October 5, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Lecture:  October 5, 6:00 – 6:30 p.m.

The Dorrance H. Hamilton Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Ernest Jolicoeur: Erased Landscapes, an exhibition of recent paintings and drawings by Ernest Jolicoeur, Associate Professor of Art and Gallery Director at Salve Regina University.  An opening reception and artist talk are scheduled for the evening of Thursday, October 5.

In his series titled Erased Landscapes, Jolicoeur explores the memory of place and the place of memory as agents of image making.  His acrylic paintings and collage drawings depict a world of charged spaces and architectural structures shaped by the forces of memory, observation, and imagination.  Each work offers a unique composite of abstract and representational elements that are pressed together into a new hybrid landscape.  These works invite us to journey to a place just out of reach, like a childhood home or a temporary Covid test site.

Jolicoeur’s work draws equally from both the natural world and the built environment.  His paintings combine fleeting sensations of light, temperature, and atmosphere with fragmentary traces of landscape, architecture, and the human figure.  His work reimagines the poetic capacity for abstract painting to embody his lived experience of place.

This is Ernest Jolicoeur’s first solo exhibition at Salve Regina’s Hamilton Gallery.  It features work from his recent sabbatical.  Jolicoeur received his BFA from Rhode Island College and his MFA from Yale University.  He exhibits his work nationally and internationally.  Most recently he exhibited his drawings in Newport at the contemporary art gallery Overlap.  Other local venues include the RISD Museum, Roger Williams University, and Brown University’s Bell Gallery.  He also has an extensive record of exhibitions in New York that includes the Museum of Modern Art PS1, VOLTA, Feature Inc., Silverstein Gallery and ArtPort Kingston.  His work has received numerous honors and awards including three fellowships from the Rhode State Council of the Arts.  In 2022, Jolicoeur and Anthony Mangieri, Salve Regina Associate Professor of Art History, co-authored Muse and Mercy: Exploring Fine and Decorative Arts at Salve Regina University to highlight the significance of art on Salve’s campus.

The Dorrance H. Hamilton Gallery is located in the Antone Academic Center on the campus of Salve Regina.  It is a fully accessible space with parking along Lawrence Avenue and Leroy Avenue.  Its exhibits are open to the public Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Wednesdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays from Noon to 4 p.m.  The gallery is closed on Mondays.