Paul Rotterdam: Drawings

Artist reception:
Wednesday, November 3, 2004 - 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Gallery Talk: 6:30 to 7 p.m.

Public Lecture and Book Signing:
Thursday, November 4, 2004 - 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. 

The Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum is pleased to present an exhibition of works by 2004 Saginaw Valley State University's Dow Visiting Scholar, Paul Rotterdam, an internationally renowned painter, draftsman, and printmaker. He engages the concepts of the sublime as espoused by the 18th century German philosopher, Emmanuel Kant, in his emotionally charged yet austere abstractions. Former director of the Arkansas Art Center, Townsend Wolfe once stated that, "In many works, magnetic fields of dense graphite are used to mark the surface and to empower the paper with life and substance."

Rotterdam was born in 1939 in Wiener Neustadt, near Vienna. As a youth, he experienced World War II and its aftermath. His early studies included music and at age 18, he developed an interest in painting. Attending the Academy of Fine and Applied Art in Vienna, Rotterdam received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Vienna.

Rotterdam is a New York based artist whose work has been exhibited widely and can be seen in many museum collections: Guggenheim Museum in New York, Ohara Museum in Tokyo, and Power Institute of Fine Arts in Sydney, Australia. He has been the subject of books, numerous scholarly publications, and reviews.

The Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum will host a reception for the artist on Wednesday, November 3, 2004 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., with a gallery talk at 6:30 p.m. at the museum. Presented in conjunction with the SVSU's 2004 Dow Visiting Scholars and Artists Series, Rotterdam was selected as one of five guest speakers in the series. His lecture is entitled "Aesthetic Ideas on a Global Scale: What is the Contemporary Outlook for Art?" It takes place on Thursday, November 4, 2004 at 2:30 p.m. in the Alan W. Ott Auditorium located on the SVSU campus in the Regional Education Center. A book signing will follow.

The Dow Visiting Scholars and Artists Series is a lecture series offered annually by SVSU and generously sponsored through endowments and grants. The lecture is open to the public and is free of charge.

The exhibition was organized by Charlene Rathburn, Director of the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum, and made possible through the generous support of Mahar Tool Supply Company, Inc., Saginaw, MI; Barbara Mahar Lincoln, Saginaw, MI; Independent Bank, Bay City, MI; Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, MI; Luciana Horak, Bay City, MI.