New HMA Exhibit by Craig Allen Subler Focuses on the Museum Experience

The Huntington Museum of Art will present a new exhibit titled Craig Allen Subler: Eccentric Spaces from Jan. 30 through April 25, 2021. Contemporary West Virginia artist Craig Allen Subler brings a unique set of experiences to his work, drawing upon his lengthy career as both a working artist and a museum administrator.

“At any one time, most museums offer a wide variety of styles of artwork from different time periods,” said HMA Senior Curator Chris Hatten. “Artist and retired museum administrator Craig Allen Subler has tapped into the psychological experience of visiting museums with the exhibition Eccentric Spaces that the Huntington Museum of Art will be presenting for the next several weeks. I think visitors to HMA will appreciate the commentary in Subler’s artwork in which the viewers become the objects being viewed.”

Born in Dayton, Ohio, Subler did his undergraduate studies at the Dayton Art Institute and obtained graduate degrees, including an MFA, from the University of Iowa. He later served as the Olsen Professor in the Department of Art and History and the Director of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Gallery of Art. From 1980-2001 he curated more than 180 exhibitions, ranging from shows of work by Jasper Johns, Yoko Ono, and Robert Rauschenberg to a unique exhibit on the topic of African hats, and produced 30 exhibition catalogues.

Subler’s art has been seen in more than 84 group exhibits and 15 one-person shows. He has received several public commissions and his work is included in many museums and private collections. He is currently retired and living and working in his studio in Gerrardstown, West Virginia.

In his exhibition at the Huntington Museum of Art, Subler’s drawings, prints and paintings focus on the complexity of the museum experience. Museums are highly choreographed and artificial domains where curators, educators and designers cluster objects to create clear and defined narratives. Yet as visitors walk through the museum, they encounter individual rooms that feature objects not related to those they have just experienced. In his work Subler focuses on making a new narrative through the juxtaposition of spaces and objects. His works present a complex accumulation of fragments and viewpoints.  It is puzzling for the figures that inhabit these works, while reminding us of our own museum encounters.

A Craig Allen Subler: Eccentric Spaces catalogue will be available for purchase in the Museum Store during the run of this exhibition.

This exhibit is presented with support from The Isabelle Gwynn and Robert Daine Exhibition Endowment.  

This program is presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.  

For more information on exhibits at HMA, visit hmoa.org or call (304) 529-2701. HMA is fully accessible.

 West Virginia residents may obtain a summary of the registration and financial documents from the Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, WV 25305. Registration does not imply endorsement.