2015 2015: Photographs of Brutalist architecture taken by UMass Dartmouth’s Gallery Director on display at Providence gallery

Work of Gallery Director Viera Levitt part of ‘Under Construction’ exhibit

The Chazan Gallery at Wheeler in Providence, Rhode Island is presenting Under Construction, an exhibition with works by Henry Ferreira, Deborah Zlotsky and UMass Dartmouth’s Gallery Director Viera Levitt through October 8, 2015.

With her photographic exploration of Brutalism, Viera Levitt strives to reveal the hidden beauty of this architectural style often derided as gray and austere. Viera has explored the stark geometric sculptural forms and heroic monumentality of these 1960s and 1970s buildings since 2011. Her “subjects” located in both New England and her native Slovakia, share not only architectural similarities, but a certain kind of utopian impulse as well.

‌Viera's new work on display at the Chazan Gallery at Wheeler includes abstracted forms of buildings in New York City, Boston, MA, as well as Paul Rudolph's buildings in Goshen, NY, and New Haven, CT, and surprisingly, the concrete ceiling of the very gallery where the show is being held.

Brutalist architect Paul Rudolph designed the UMass Dartmouth campus in the early 1960s. In April 2014, Chancellor Divina Grossman launched UMass Dartmouth’s Living Gallery Project to re-imagine the university as an artistic and architectural destination. Several sculpture installations on campus have coincided with a series of projects over the past year including scheduled lightings of the Robert Karam Campanile, the installation of hanging gardens throughout campus, and most recently the announcement of an outdoor mural to be installed on the west facing façade of the University’s Campus Center.

UMass Dartmouth distinguishes itself as a vibrant public university actively engaged in personalized teaching and innovative research, and acting as an intellectual catalyst for regional economic, social, and cultural development. UMass Dartmouth's mandate to serve its community is realized through countless partnerships, programs, and other outreach efforts to engage the community, and apply its knowledge to help address local issues and empower others to facilitate change for all.