The Santa Monica College (SMC) Emeritus Art Gallery is pleased to present “The Invisible Man,” a free exhibition celebrating new works by artist and Emeritus student Anna Conley. The exhibition opens simultaneously on Jan. 18 in the Emeritus Art Gallery at 1227 Second St., Santa Monica, and online at smc.edu/emeritusgallery.
The solo exhibition of new painted works showcases the artist’s rich and gestural painting approach, which creates powerfully expressive imagery and mysterious abstraction as a response to metamorphosis, and to the deepest possibilities of perception and visibility.
A free, live Zoom Virtual Launch Event for the exhibition will be held online from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 18. A link at smc.edu/emeritusgallery goes live at event time and takes guests directly to the exhibition’s opening reception.
The online opening reception will be hosted by Emeritus Associate Dean (interim) Guadalupe Salgado, and will feature Emeritus Gallery Curator Jesse Benson in conversation with the artist.
“This exhibition promises to be particularly visceral and impactful,” said Benson, “both because of Ms. Conley’s lush expressivity as a painter, and because the exhibited works involve the prolonged observation of a friend experiencing change. I highly recommend catching this one in person if you can.”
In-gallery viewings are available through Mar. 22 during gallery hours, which are posted at smc.edu/emeritusgallery. Viewers who would like to see the artwork online at any time after 5 p.m. on Jan. 18 may go to smc.edu/emeritusgallery and click the exhibition link, available 24 hours a day. The link takes viewers directly to the exhibition album on a Facebook page that is open to public viewing (Facebook account not necessary).
SMC’s widely praised Emeritus program — founded by Santa Monica College in 1975 as a noncredit program to serve the lifelong learning interests of older adults — offers more than 120 noncredit adult education classes and special programs that serve more than 3,000 students each year.
More information is available by visiting smc.edu/emeritusgallery or calling 310-434-4306.
Submitted by Grace Smith