July 2008 Exhibit:

Tom Birkner

Tom Birkner grew up in Rahway, New Jersey, and currently lives and works in Lambertville, New Jersey. He received his BFA from Rutgers University and his MFA from Penn State. Birkner has exhibited extensively, including numerous solo exhibitions at DFN Gallery, as well as in Chicago, San Francisco, Milan, Bologna, and Beijing.

Tom's latest work (Jersey Girls) celebrates the women of his home state and makes a convincing case for taking a closer look at the social landscapes that surround us.

Well known for his gritty scenes of down-trodden New Jersey, Birkner’s newest paintings offer a more specific focus. Hidden in plain sight, his Jersey Girls emerge from the banal realities of traffic, sprawl, strip malls and money to offer what Birkner calls a new ideal. Street-smart and loyal, fierce, vulnerable and sexy, these young women are figures by which the ordinary becomes sublime.

In Cheer Leading, Rutgers cheerleaders rally fans in support of the recently resurgent Scarlet Knights. Lofted into the air, back arched and fist clenched, a blonde cheerleader becomes a monument to victory. Andrea, a portrait of a young brunette lounging on the hood of a car, epitomizes the Jersey Girl archetype - blue jeans and attitude. If there were any doubt of Andrea’s iconic status, a circled star on the brick wall behind her provides a halo to remind us.

Critic David Cohen of The New York Sun writes: “Mr. Birkner’s sharply observed, chromatically inventive, compositionally ambitious social scenes have a slow-burning sexuality that rhymes with the bluesy resignation of the depressed towns, threatening freeway encounters and proletarian amusements he depicts.” Tom will present a diverse collection of his works, including some of his Jersey Girls, and other things "Jersey" at the Arts Center this July 3-29, 2008.

RECEPTION: FRI JULY 11th, 7-9PM. Open, free to the public; Refreshments.