Opening reception to NIU art exhibition March 19

DeKALB – The Northern Illinois University Art Museum will host a public opening reception for its upcoming exhibition suite.

The reception will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. March 19 at the NIU Art Museum.

The exhibition suite will feature four exhibits. The exhibits include “Windows to the Subconscious,” “Surrealist Classics from the Museum Collection,” “Phantasmagraphica: The Early Psychedelic Work of British Artist Douglas Binder” and “A Deb Sokolow Sampler: 20 Years of Speculative Drawing.”

“Windows to the Subconscious” focuses the meaning of dreams. The art pieces will explore the dream and nightmare perceptions from 13 artists. The artists include Brandin Barón, Natalie Christensen, Marcella Hackbardt, Sandra Leonard, B. Lynch, Alejandro Mazon, Mark Pease, Mary Porterfield, Janelle Rebel, Jeffery Reinhart, Maria Robinson, Martha Wagner and Liu Yang.

“Surrealist Classics from the Museum Collection” will include artwork donated by Melvin and Dicky Pfaelzer. The featured artists are Hans (Jean) Arp, Hans Bellmer, Salvador Dalí, Georgio de Chirico, Paul Delvaux, Max Ernst, Fernand Léger, René Magritte, Roberto Matta, André Masson, Joan Miró, Man Ray and Odilon Redon.

“Phantasmagraphica: The Early Psychedelic Work of British Artist Douglas Binder” includes a gouache painting selections. The paintings were created in paper and a triptych panel donated by M.A. Lipschultz of Chicago. The collection was selected by museum curator Peter B. Olson and NIU graduate student John Hosta.

“A Deb Sokolow Sampler: 20 Years of Speculative Drawing” observed reality by becoming a departure point for research and imagining the unknown and plausible.

The exhibit suites will run through May 10.

For information visit niu.edu/artmuseum/join/index.shtml.