Aliza Nisenbaum 2018 Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud Endowed Lecture
Painter Aliza Nisenbaum will join us on Friday, March 9,
2018 as the fourth Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud Endowed
Lecturer.
Born in Mexico City, and currently based in New York, Aliza
Nisenbaum’s paintings are intimate exchanges between herself and
her subjects. The artist makes portraits of undocumented Latin
American immigrants, and of other distinct communities, using the
focused attention of observational painting to mark those who are
socially unmarked in society, along with the apparently anonymous
goods that constitute a transnational trade in quotidian objects
such as flowers, garments, handcrafts and letters. Often lushly
decorated with patterened textiles, her canvases demand close
looking in keeping with her personal connections to her subjects.
Nisenbaum has presented her work at the Minneapolis Institute of
Art, Mary Mary, Glasgow; White Columns, New York; Lulu, Mexico
City; the Whitney Biennial 2017; The Flag Art Foundation; The ICA
at MECA, Maine; Biennial of the Americas, MCA, Denver; the Rufino
Tamayo Painting Biennial, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City; T-293
gallery, Rome; Princeton University School of Architecture; The
Renaissance Society, Chicago; Yale School of Art; The University
of Wisconsin; and The University of Texas at Tyler, among others.
She has curated an exhibition, “Intimisms” at James Cohan Gallery
in 2016. She has been an artist in residence at the
Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program;
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; the University of Tennessee;
and SOMA Summer, Mexico City. Fellowships and grants include the
Rema Hort Mann NYC award, and the Fellowship for Immigrant Women
Leaders from NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA). She
has also been a participating artist at Immigrant Movement
International, Corona Park, Queens. She was included in the book
“Vitamin P3, New Perspectives in Painting.” She is currently
Director of Graduate Studies, and Professor of Visual Arts
at Columbia University School of the Arts.
The Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud Endowed Lecture honors the
Thiebauds’ long commitment to educating the eye and hand along
with the mind. The endowment will complement the Art Studio
Program’s Visiting
Artist Lecture Series, a core component of the Art
Studio MFA Program, increasing its ability to invite
distinguished artists, critics and curators to the UC Davis
campus.
This event is supported by the Department of Art and Art History,
the office of the Dean of the College of Letters and
Science and the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of
Art.
Contemporary painter Aliza Nisenbaum was the presenter at the
2018 Betty Jean and Wayne Thiebaud Endowed Lecture at the Jan
Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art on March 9. The event
saw Nisenbaum introduced by Dean Elizabeth Spiller, College of
Letters and Science. Assistant professor of art Graham McDougal
introduced Dean Spiller. Professor of art Gina Werfel oversaw the
lecture on behalf of the Department of Art and Art History. Here
are some photos from this year’s lecture.