Upcoming Receptions

Brian Keith Stephens
Reception: Thursday, TBA (6-8pm)
Bernier Room

Brian Keith Stephens studied at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Art in Connecticut. Since 2000, his work has been featured in a variety of venues such as Hugo Gallerie NYC, M Fine Arts Boston & Palm Beach, Punto Sull'Arte Milan, Sirona Fine Arts Miami, and many more. 

“How to capture the past, present and future at the same time; this is at the center of my work as an artist and as a father, son, friend, and lover. As we navigating our daily lives, we must face thoughts, anxieties, joys and emotions from all three of these tenses, and often at the same time. Seemingly opposite emotions — lust, hatred, desire, love, pride, inhibition — exists simultaneously between these moments in time. For some of us, some emotions out weigh others, grabbing our attention and transfixing our minds, sometimes taking over the way we live and breath. For myself, the emotions that occupy my mind and capture my energy are that of love, desire, and the fear of hurt or disappointment. And so, at the center of my work are these forceful emotions–they guide my hand to paint and my heart and mind to live. My work explores the emotions that guide us, that pull us and push us and ultimately define who we are, in relation to others and to ourselves.

Lately, what I have been most interested in capturing is how alternative perceptions of ones identity can change the effect these daily emotions. My work speaks to this in two mediums: oil pantings and collage/installation. With the first medium, I do this primarily through mystical imagery juxtaposed with figurative technique. I am using oil paints to create this mystical alter-reality where the human is the animal and the animal is the human.”
James Chase
Reception: Thursday, TBA (6-8pm)
​Bernier Room

James Chase is the Director of Community Education and Visual Arts Faculty at the New Hampshire Institute of Art, as well as a board member for Rochester Museum of Fine Arts. He’s a national and international exhibiting artist, merging painting, printmaking and photography with social engagement practices. Since 2009, he has been featured in over 50 art exhibitions. Recent exhibitions include Picked Six Contemporary Art Month in San Antonio 2015 and Memory Palace 2016at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, OH. Recent solo exhibitions include Echoes at the RMFA and Kill The Lights at South Plains College in Levelland, TX.

The work of artist James Chase explores ideas of collection, repetition, and memory. Discarded wooden slats and blocks are collected and repurposed to form the structural and visual elements of Chase’s work. Trained in printmaking, Chase creates traditional prints but has also developed an approach to printmaking in which older prints are cut up and reassembled to form a new composite image against the background of the found objects. For Chase, the collection of found objects is a means of mentally mapping out time and place. The layering, stacking, and painting of materials references the accumulation of memories (and the objects that represent them) and the ways in which memories can be altered, replaced, or forgotten over time. The use of bright colors and abstract geometric forms on found objects results in an image that is familiar but unrecognizable – a reflection of our ability as human beings to relate and remember as well as our inability to ever fully relive a memory or experience reality from another’s perspective.​

About Us

The Rochester Museum of Fine Arts is a community art initiative dedicated to the accessibility of contemporary works made by regionally, nationally, and internationally recognized artists.
Founded in 2011, the museum works to enrich people’s lives through the presentation of fine art. The museum is located in the Rochester Community Center (Suite 135) and Rochester Public Library. 

The historic Andrew Carnegie Gallery (at the Rochester Public Library) and Mayor Harvey E. Bernier Room (at the Rochester Community Center, Suite 135) feature temporary art exhibits by emerging and seasoned artists, on an alternating monthly basis. The museum also curates The Art Gallery at the Rochester Performance & Arts Center (RPAC). 

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