Survey Exhibition of Former FAU Professor of Painting Walter Hnatysh

The University Galleries will present "Walter Hnatysh Survey: The Florida Years 1989- 2016," from Friday, Sept. 2 through Sunday, Oct. 22 in the Schmidt Center Gallery, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus. There will be an opening reception on Thursday, Sept. 1 at 6:30 p.m. Also, on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 2 p.m., Walter Hnatysh will be joined by FAU professors Lynn Appleton (Sociology) and Amy Broderick (Visual Arts and Art History) for a conversational Gallery Talk. The exhibition and all related programming are free and open to the public.

This survey exhibition presents the work of Walter Hnatysh, former FAU professor of painting, whose work ranges from painting to drawing to photography. The exhibition serves to both demonstrate and celebrate Hynatsh's evolution as an artist over the last 27 years. Hnatysh's primarily figurative work reveals sometimes fantastic, sometimes surreal worlds that are nothing if not idiosyncratic visions containing highly evocative, overtly playful, creepy, mysterious and sometimes quirky imagery. An illustrated brochure accompanies the exhibition with brief essays written by FAU professors Lynn Appleton and Amy Broderick.

Hnatysh received his BFA from Indiana University, and his MFA from Tyler School of Art. He has participated in various one- and two-person exhibitions as well as more than 100 group exhibitions since 1986. Hnatysh has exhibited work in Istanbul, Turkey; MOCA at the Goldman Warehouse, Miami; and Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida. His paintings and drawings are included in many private and public collections, such as the Huntsville Museum of Art in Alabama; The Everhart Museum in Pennsylvania; Tampa Museum of Art; and the Boca Raton Museum of Art. He also has received an Individual Artist Grant from the state of Maryland, as well as from the South Florida Cultural Consortium in 2007 and 2011.

The University Galleries are open Tuesdays through Fridays from 1 to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m. Group and class tours are welcome during public hours as well as at other times scheduled by appointment. The Schmidt Center Gallery is located in the Performing Arts building (No. 51) marked by a tall, white cubicle tower. Parking on the University campus is subject to strict regulations. Visitors should stop at the information booth on Glades Road and Northwest 10^th Avenue to get a parking pass, or park in metered spots.

The University Galleries exhibition and education programs are supported in part by the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, R.A. Ritter Foundation, Beatrice Cummings Mayer and individual contributors. Museum Education programs are made possible by the Kaye Endowment for Arts Integration. For more information, call 561-297-2661 or visit www.fau.edu/galleries.

Image: Hnatysh, Biophilia, 2011, drawing/collage, markers on paper