Box House #16, graphite on vellum 7.5 x 12”, mounted on paper 18 x 24“, 2008.

ITINERARIES, Works 1979–2009 by Alan Turner, opens Wednesday, September 23, and will run through Friday, October 30, in the Graduate Center’s first floor Exhibition Hallway. In these drawings and paintings, Turner explores abandoned locations—ruins of antiquity, inventive shelters of the homeless, playgrounds of children—with side trips in the natural world; the metaphorically rich images, growing out of his observation of structures the homeless build for shelter, mark an uncomfortable relationship between the body, containers, and consciousness.

An acute draftsman, Alan Turner’s painting technique has grown increasingly austere over time. Taking a “just enough” approach, he dispenses with paint completely; these newest works are simply graphite on canvas. His exquisite control of line and mark-making creates a deep conversation between ideas of home and intimacy.

Alan Turner has been exhibiting his paintings, drawings, and prints in solo and group exhibitions throughout the U.S. and Europe since 1971. Born in the Bronx in 1943, he earned a B.A. from CUNY’s City College in 1965, and an M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1967. His works have entered many prominent public and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. He has also traveled widely in the U.S., the Americas, and Europe, living for extended periods of time in California, London, England, Hamburg, Germany, and Rome, Italy. Among his many honors and awards are three NEA Grants, a Pollack–Krasner Fellowship Foundation Grant, and a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. See www.alanturnerstudio.com for a complete archive.

Box House #50, graphite on vellum 7 x 9 inches, mounted on paper 14 x 18”, 2009.