New Year, New Art 

The Center for the Arts at Monmouth University has announced three new gallery shows opening this month in the on-campus galleries.On display in the Pollak Gallery from January 13 through February 19 is Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s Rare Wildlife Revealed: The JamesFiorentino Traveling Art Exhibition. The youngest artist ever inducted into the prestigious New York Society of Illustrators, New Jersey native James Fiorentino uses his self-taught watercolor expression to paint some of the most recognized faces in the world, from sports icons and presidents to Nobel Prize winners and CEOs. His award-winning art is showcased in museums, galleries, and private collections across the globe. In this exhibit, Fiorentino uses his trademark detail and realism in watercolor to paint New Jersey’s most endangered and vulnerable wildlife species. His evocative artwork inspires viewers through his life-like depictions of rare wildlife in their natural surroundings. His paintings truly bring wildlife to life on paper, and in doing so, his art helps to educate and engage viewers about the precipitous declines that many of these species have undergone. This exhibition is presented in partnership with Conserve Wildlife Foundation. There will be an opening reception on February 9 from 7-9 pm.

The second exhibit, Maunderings by Tonya D. Lee, will be housed in the Rotary Ice House Gallery starting January 16. Lee's work explores the abstraction of nature and environment through shapes, patterns, moments and pauses – and her compositions marry digital and analog technologies. Her intention is to explore the aesthetic oppositions of rigidity and gesture, where form and color exist as object and subject. Lee is an independent artist, as well as an Art and Design faculty member at Monmouth University. Her exhibit will run through March 23. An opening reception for Maunderings is slated for February 2 from 7 to 9 pm. 

In Rechnitz Hall's DiMattio Gallery, Joseph Coscia Jr.'s exhibition Oceanids will be on view starting January 16. Oceanids are nymphs in Greek mythology that watch over fresh water, rain, clouds, lakes and more. As the Chief Photographer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Coscia has photographed a variety of classical sculptures in different settings and seasons. He focuses on the qualities of light on sculpture in changing conditions, and his technique allows his work to appear suspended in time. His recent work draws on Man Ray’s solarization techniques. This effect reverses the shadow areas and transforms the sense of weight and volume of the objects, so that they appear suspended in air or water. The forms are evocative of earthly creatures or fossils. Coscia's exhibit will be on display through March 11. An opening reception will be held January 26 from 7 to 9 pm.