The Artists Archives of the Western Reserve (AAWR) is proud to present SZALAY/TAKÁCS SECRETS, the inaugural show for Archived Artists Judy Takács and the late Marilyn Szalay.  The event will be celebrated with an Opening Reception on Thursday, May 24th from 5:30 to 8:00.

Art is full of secrets…secret meanings, symbolism, struggles and statements.  Some secrets go to the grave with the artist, leaving curators and art historians to spend centuries speculating and theorizing about the mysteries hanging on museum walls.  And some living artists blog about the secrets they have hidden in their paintings, hoping someone will care about the painting enough to read the blog.  SZALAY/TAKÁCS SECRETS is chock-full of both kinds of secrets.

Marilyn Szalay is best known for her superbly drafted figurative charcoal drawings; bodies, heads and hands are closely cropped for maximal compositional fascination. Szalay taught life drawing to decades of artists at all the major art institutions of Northeast Ohio; Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland State, Cuyahoga Community College and Cooper Union. Stories of her larger than life personality live on as does her legacy of powerful and psychologically charged figurative art which took inspiration from her journalistic style of photography.  Many of the stories behind her drawings will now forever remain a secret.

Judy Takács has made a mark on Ohio art and nationally with her Chicks with Balls series, celebrating unsung female heroes, topless and holding balls. Several of her Chicks paintings, including a self-portrait, will be included in SECRETS, as will various paintings inspired by the health decline and subsequent death of both of her elderly parents over the past two years. In administering to their lives and later their possessions and writings, Takács uncovered many stories which she explores in recent works with titles like, Cancer Honeymoon, Serenity Prayer, Ephemera Collector, Guardian Angel of the Good Death and a posthumous imagined portrait of her aunt, who was sent away as a teenager and died at 21. Takács blogs about the symbolism and stories behind many of her paintings at chickswithballsjudytakacs.blogspot.com, but also knows how to keep a secret.

SZALAY/TAKÁCS SECRETS opens May 24th from 5:30 to 8:00 and runs through July 14th at the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve.

As part of the ArtBites series of Professional Practices programming and the SZALAY/TAKÁCS SECRETS exhibition, the AAWR is also pleased to present  How to Make Friends & Influence Strangers- Social Media for the Artist with Judy Takács on Wednesday, June 6th 6:30-8:00pm.  This series of programming is designed to help artists of all ages navigate the marketplace and provide knowledge beneficial to artistic careers.  ArtBites programming is made free courtesy of a matching grant from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture (CAC).

About the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve:  The Artists Archives of the Western Reserve is a unique archival facility and regional museum that preserves representative bodies of work created by Ohio visual artists and, through ongoing research, exhibition and educational programs, actively documents and promotes this cultural heritage for the benefit of the public.

The Artists Archives of the Western Reserve would also like to thank Ohio Arts Council, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, Ohio Art Dealers Association, the George Gund Foundation, the Bernice & David E. Davis Foundation, the William Bingham Foundation and the Zufall Foundation for their continuing support.

Image: Judy Takács, Cancer Honeymoon Triptych, Oil on linen