Artworks by Two William Paterson University Art Professors on View at Olympic Fine Arts 2012 in London Exhibition

Artworks by William Paterson University art professors Zhiyuan Cong and Charles Magistro have been selected for inclusion in Olympic Fine Arts 2012, an exhibition to be held at the Barbican Arts Centre in London from August 1 to 7 in connection with the 2012 Olympic Games.

The exhibition is designed to disseminate and exalt the Olympic spirit and ideal, according to the organization. The exhibit will include approximately 500 modern artworks of the highest aesthetic and technical levels, which have been created by artists from different countries.

Magistro says his submission, Unity of People, represents the celebration of the human spirit and open competition. “Its vibrant color and organic forms evoke the life-affirming qualities of the Olympics, where differences are set aside in the name of sports ability and fellowship,” he says.

Cong describes his artwork, Paradise, as borrowing from the Chinese Han human figure stone relief, which uses simple and vigorous forms to express masculine power. “My work aims to portray an indispensible part of American life, namely, the sport of basketball. From the images in both artworks, I hope that people will see the dynamics, the rhythm, the quick pace and life in our contemporary American society,” he says.

Magistro joined the William Paterson faculty in 1976.  His work has been exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions, including the Richard A. and Rissa W. Grossman Gallery at the Williams Visual Arts Building at Lafayette College, the Virginia Museum in Richmond, and the James Yu Gallery in New York. His prints have been included in exhibitions at the Winston-Salem Museum in North Carolina, the Whitney Museum, and the Brooklyn Museum, among others, and his works are held in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Reese Museum in Knoxville, Tennessee, and others. He holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University and a master of fine arts degree from Ohio State University. He is a resident of Wayne.

Cong has exhibited his prints and paintings in numerous exhibitions in the United States and abroad, including solo exhibitions at the Nantong Museum, Nanjing Arts institute, and Qinghai Provincial Museum in China; the United Nations; the East-West Center in Hawaii, and the Indiana University Art Museum, and group exhibitions at the New Jersey State Museum, the Newark Museum, and the Nanjing Museum, Shanghai Art Museum, and National Fine Art Museum in China. The director of William Paterson University’s Center for Chinese Art, he has directed the University’s Summer Art in China program since 2001. A native of China, Cong earned bachelor and master of fine arts degrees from Nanjing Arts institute, and a master of fine arts degree from Indiana University. Prior to joining the William Paterson faculty in 1994, he served as a professor at Nanjing Arts and an instructor at Indiana University from 1989 to 1994. He is also a resident of Wayne.