Franc Palaia's URBAN ARCHAEOLOGY

Franc Palaia’s Urban Archaeology is an expansive exhibition that transforms the cavernous Building 35 Main Gallery at GARNER Arts Center into an archaeological site. Mr. Palaia is a master of visual deception. His mixed media paintings, frescoes, photographs, and sculptures look like they have been unearthed from abandoned underground urban landfills of the future. Upon entering the space, the viewer is amazed at how the massive archeological fragments appear to be broken life-sized concrete walls, crumbling rubble, and pigmented fragments of modern-day cement structures, despite not being what they seem.

Urban Archaeology consists of over 60 works, including paintings, frescoes, free-standing sculptures, mixed-media photographs, table-top sculptures, and a 15-minute video entitled Many Parts, that will be on view in the gallery. This exhibition will run during GARNER Arts Festival, to be held on Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18 in GARNER’s home, the 14-acre GARNER Historic District complex in Garnerville, NY. A solo painting exhibition by Edward M. O’Hara will run concurrently with this exhibition in Building 35’s adjoining exhibition space, the Ned Harris Gallery. 

Palaia, who travels extensively, having visited over 25 countries so far, is an active muralist and sign painter, so he is naturally attracted to walls. He has photo-documented hundreds of urban walls, murals, graffiti, street art, signs, and posters and cataloged them by country. He then selects his favorite images and fabricates them from scratch more or less to life-size, but not with concrete. Palaia has devised a secret mix of materials that simulate the weight and texture of concrete. He combines four media in each piece; photography, painting, sculpture, and architecture. Palaia’s Urban Archeology exhibition includes simulated wall fragments from Italy, France, Cuba, London, Gaza, Berlin, and the U.S., as well as imaginary visions of prehistoric cave paintings from 40,000 years ago, painted on car parts and plastic jugs. Visitors will be transported to faraway places and times ahead of our current era.

A 36-page full-color exhibition catalog with an introduction by art critic and writer, Taliesin Thomas will be available in the gallery as well as CDs by Palaia’s new wave band, Jon Waine. A selection of original handmade street art coasters will also be available during the show.

Mr. Palaia has an extensive exhibition record with over 45 solo shows and more than 300 group shows nationally and internationally, which include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Saatchi Museum in London, The High Museum in Atlanta, the Alternative Museum, PS1, the New Museum, the White House, the Newark Museum, the Dorsky Museum, the Hyde Collection and the Albany International Airport among others. He is the winner of over 20 grants and fellowships, including the prestigious Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, a Louis C. Tiffany grant, a Puffin grant, a Painted Bride grant, three Arts Mid-Hudson grants, two New Jersey Arts Council grants, and two Polaroid Sponsorships among others.

He has artworks in many public and private collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, Newark Museum, the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin, the University of Cincinnati and Kean University, Robert Wood Johnson Corp. Prudential Insurance, Montclair Museum, and the NJ State Museum, to name a few.

You’re invited: School and community groups are invited to schedule a special tour of the exhibition with the artist or curator. Please call Jesse Heffler at (845) 947-7108 for more information.

Exhibition Run: May 3 – June 15 Opening Reception: Sunday, May 4, 3-5PM

Gallery Hours: Fridays, 2-5PM, Saturdays and Sundays 1-5PM

WHERE: The Main Gallery at Building 35, GARNER Arts Center 

ADDRESS: GARNER Historic District, 55 West Railroad Avenue, Garnerville, NY 10923 

CONTACT: Jesse Heffler, Programs & Operations Director, (845) 947-7108; jesse@garnerartscenter.org 

FOR APPOINTMENTS: (845) 947-7108 / info@garnerartscenter.org https://garnerartscenter.org/exhibitions