CONLEY HARRIS


MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS

GLORIOUS BEASTS
Gallery of Islamic Art
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
465 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115

Conley Harris with Glorious Beasts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MAIn early 2008 I was invited by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston to create a series of works on paper for a solo exhibition project titled Glorious Beasts, September 1, 2009 through April 11, 2010.
      The curators of Asia, Oceania and Himalayan Art offered me twenty-four 16th century Persian miniature paintings and drawings from the MFA collections from which to select images as inspiration to create six works on paper. Each Persian miniature painting or drawing focused on animals in landscape. For this exhibition I explore specific subject matter, artist materials and techniques used by Persian artists all within the context of my own studio work.
      The Glorious Beasts exhibition features thirteen pieces which includes my six pieces and the seven MFA Persian miniatures. All these pieces hang side by side along the full length of the Islamic Art corridor.
      Since 2004, in addition to paintings focusing on American and British landscape, I have pursued a body of paintings and mixed media drawings referencing travels across India and studies of Indian, Mughal and Persian art history. The MFA Asian Art curators followed with interest this evolving group of paintings and drawings which led to approaching me and proposing this unique museum exhibition project.
      In addition to my studio paintings I also collect 16th–19th century Indian drawings originally created by Indian artists as studies for folios of miniature paintings commissioned by the royal courts of North India. These historical drawings have served me as an important source of inspiration for my paintings.

PRESS
McQuaid, Cate "His Take on Painting," The Boston Globe, November 7, 2009

Majeski, Anna "Gallery Review: MFA exhibition reinterprets Persian paintings," The Tufts Daily, Tuesday, September 29, 2009


Here are additional examples of artworks referencing historical Indian/Persian art:


Flowers in a Yellow Garden,
oil on canvas, 16 x 12"


The Garden Willow,
oil on canvas, 54 x 40"


Rose Lattice,
oil on canvas, 56 x 44"