Front Room: Dario Robleto Brings Contemporary Component to American Wing Opening Celebration

Robleto will join with JHU Space Telescope Science Institute team
for a public talk about art and science on March 3, 2015

BALTIMORE, MD (November 12, 2014)—Texas-native Dario Robleto’s poetic sculptures, prints, and cut-paper works weave together the histories of recorded light and sound in the latest Front Room exhibition, on view November 16, 2014 through March 29, 2015. In the exhibition, the artist unexpectedly “mixes” allusions to classical, blues, folk, and rock music with the motif of space exploration in an effort to give shape to the epic and elusive concept of time.

In a suite of eight digital prints, bursts of light appear like those captured by instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope. “Rather than glimpses into the life cycles of heavenly stars, however, the flashes in Robleto’s prints are generated by stage lights that blaze from the covers of concert albums by Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, and other deceased musical luminaries,” said Kristen Hileman, Curator of Contemporary Art.

Lending a contemporary component to the BMA’s American Wing Opening Celebration, the exhibition debuts three new works created at Headlands Center of the Arts in Sausalito, CA, as part of the Center’s program to commission art from outstanding contemporary artists. These works were in part inspired by the BMA’s proximity to the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI ) on the campus of The Johns Hopkins University.

Robleto will join STScl scientists on March 3, 2015, to discuss the cross-pollination of art and science, including the ways in which imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope influenced him and the works featured in the Front Room exhibition.

Robleto (American, 1972) lives and works in Houston. He studied at the University of Texas, San Antonio, and the Summer School of Music and Art at Yale University. Recently, he has had solo exhibitions at several prestigious institutions, including New Orleans Museum of Art; MCA Denver; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; and Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston. His work is included in many private and public collections such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY.

About the Baltimore Museum of Art

Founded in 1914, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) inspires people of all ages and backgrounds through exhibitions, programs, and collections that tell an expansive story of art—challenging long-held narratives and embracing new voices. Our outstanding collection of more than 97,000 objects spans many eras and cultures and includes the world’s largest public holding of works by Henri Matisse; one of the nation’s finest collections of prints, drawings, and photographs; and a rapidly growing number of works by contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds. The museum is also distinguished by a neoclassical building designed by American architect John Russell Pope and two beautifully landscaped gardens featuring an array of modern and contemporary sculpture. The BMA is located three miles north of the Inner Harbor, adjacent to the main campus of Johns Hopkins University, and has a community branch at Lexington Market. General admission is free so that everyone can enjoy the power of art.