Exhibition

February 2 - April 10, 2005

This exhibition included four paintings of Korean dragons and a pair of dragon sculptures on loan from the Lea Sneider Collection. All the pieces mixed strict formalism with unexpected creativity. Two of the paintings depicted dragons as benevolent bringers of rain, symbolized by a dragon surrounded by clouds. A third painting depicted a dragon with carp swimming placidly beneath it, instead of jumping and striving to reach the heavens and become a dragon, as is usually the case. The fourth painting depicted a dragon hovering over two human figures. This was the "mystery" painting of the exhibition as it is very rare for human beings to be depicted in a dragon painting. Lastly, the exhibition included a pair of dragons that collectors believe once served as temple guardians. The Songs of the Flying Dragons exhibition debuted with a gallery talk by Heinz Insu Fenkl, director of the creative writing program and Interstitial Studies Institute at SUNY New Paltz.