Douglas Walla will discuss his three-decade career with prestigious New York art galleries during a Nov. 26 College of Arts and Humanities Distinguished Alumnus Lecture Series presentation at California State University, Fresno.
His presentation, “Art of Engagement: Tales from a New York Art Dealer,” begins at 7 p.m. in the Alice Peters Auditorium of the University Business Center. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Walla earned a bachelor’s degree in art in 1973 and a master’s degree in 1974 at Fresno State. While he was studying, Walla honed his artistic skills assisting painters Rollin Pickford and B.J. McCoon and constructing large-scale architectural reliefs for Hans Sumpf, a masonry and adobe company in Fresno.
Walla was preparator, then curator, for what now is the Fresno Art Museum during and shortly after his university career. He moved to New York in 1976, where he became vice president of the Marlborough Gallery.
He left in 1985 to found Kent Fine Art, a gallery in the heart of Manhattan that has organized more than 200 exhibitions worldwide. Kent moved recently to the Chelsea Gallery district.
Kent’s exhibitions frequently feature mid-career artists of national and international stature. The gallery also collaborates with writers and artists to publish monographs and artist’s projects.
A recent show was “American Servicemen and Women Who Have Died in Iraq and Afghanistan (but Not Including the Wounded, nor the Iraqis nor the Afghans).” The work by Emily Prince documents more than 3,900 casualties in drawings.
Walla’s presentation is the first in the Ara Dolarian Visiting Guest Artist series, named for the late professor of art, who was one of Walla’s teachers. The Dolarian program is funded by an endowment in his memory established by his wife, Rose Dolarian.
For more information contained in this release, please go to the following Web sites:
Lecture Series Schedule
The Kent Gallery
