Ellarslie 39 Open

Walter Wickiser, Juror

Iview the Annual at the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie as one of the most important events that a museum can undertake. It levels the playing field by providing artists a chance to participate in a professional arena in a system that has few opportunities and seems to at times only service the blue chip 1% of the art world. I learned this firsthand as I was born into an art family. My father, the late Ralph l Wickiser (1910-1998), wrote some of the first books on teaching modern art, chaired the Art Departments of Louisiana State University, SUNY New Paltz, and the Pratt Institute, and exhibited with the likes of Jackson Pollock and Georgia O’Keefe. I opened my gallery in SoHo, New York, in 1992 and because I had experience from both sides of the art world/artist viewpoint I decided to focus on bringing recognition to underrecognized and deserving artists. Therefore I was truly honored to be asked to jury this year’s Ellarslie Open.

This year’s selection radiated a common feeling of positivity, as though we all might see the light at the end of the tunnel after two years of the pandemic. If the exhibition offered unlimited space, I would have chosen all artists who entered, as all had something important to express and were worthy. My choices and awards were no easy task, as I felt for each and every artist and artwork whether or not they were selected. I thank the Trenton City Museum, all the artists who entered, and all the volunteers who manage this endeavor. I am truly honored and humbled.

Walter Wickiser Juror

Wickiser Gallery, New York City June 2022

Ellarslie Open 39

The Walter Wickiser Gallery was established in 1992 in Soho, New York. As the son of American artist and art educator Ralph Wickiser, who chaired the graduate Fine Art program at Pratt Institute from 1962-1978, Walter Wickiser was born and raised in the American art world among internationally renowned modern artists including Barnett Newman, Phillip Guston, Jacob Lawrence, George McNeil, Stephen Pace, and Phillip Pearlstein.

Wickiser’s career as an art dealer formally began in 1990 in Soho, NY, when he became the first director of the first gallery to be established in the United States from mainland China. This led to establishing his primary direction as a gallery director to exhibit work by American and Asian-American painters, as well as artists from China, Japan and Korea. It has always been the focus of the Wickiser Gallery to create a visual dialogue between various cultures, and simultaneously reminds us of the ability of art to transcend cultural boundaries. The Wickiser has exhibited at dozens of

International Art Fairs including Art Aspen, Art Busan, Art Hamptons, Art Miami, Art on Paper, Art Toronto, Houston Fine Art Fair, LA Art Show, and the Seattle Art Fair. Work by many of the Wickiser’s artists have been exhibited at American museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the High Museum, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the New Britain Museum of American Art.