TRENTON – The New Jersey State Museum is pleased to present a new exhibition and accompanying publication featuring the work of an artist who spent the latter part of his life working in New Jersey. “Robert Duran,” opening October 19, offers visitors the opportunity to trace the arc of Duran’s evolutions and experiments in painting, drawing, and watercolor from roughly 1967 to the late 1990s. The exhibition will be on view in the first floor gallery through March 16, 2025. Major support for this exhibition and the accompanying publication has been generously provided by Karma Gallery. Additional support has been provided by the New Jersey State Museum Foundation through the Lucille M. Paris Fund and the Martha Vaughn Fund. Born in Salinas, California, to a Filipino father and Shawnee mother, Robert Duran (1938–2005) arrived in New York in the early 1960s via San Francisco, where he soon became part of the artistic milieu associated with Bykert Gallery. Originally a sculptor, Duran and his approach to painting offer an alternative to both the hard-edge geometric abstraction and minimalism that dominated much of the ‘60s and ‘70s in New York. Duran’s acrylic wash surfaces and “color shapes,” as critic Carter Ratcliff called them, at times resemble petroglyphs, and at others take on cartographic or even geological qualities. Despite a critically successful career in the New York art world, around 1980 Duran moved with his family to Hillsdale, New Jersey, where he privately continued to develop his painting style. Much of what we know about Duran is limited to exhibition history and anecdotes from friends, family, and acquaintances who can only begin to flesh out certain contours of the artist’s life, often leaving more questions than answers. Sarah B. Vogelman, the Museum’s Acting Curator of Fine Art, became aware of Robert Duran and his artwork while researching lesser known New Jersey artists. “I was immediately drawn to Duran’s unique sensibility when it comes to form and color. His experimental and playful approach to both acrylic paint and watercolor set him apart from contemporaries of his era, and still feels fresh in today’s landscape.” Vogelman continues, “He was part of an artistic community that included some of the most important American artists of the twentieth-century, and based on the quality of the work alone, Duran deserves be to part of that art history, too.” The exhibition seeks to reintroduce this artist to the public primarily through the most significant record of his life available to us: his paintings and works on paper. The New Jersey State Museum is open Tuesday – Sunday, 9:00 am to 4:45 pm; closed on all State holidays. General admission is free. For additional information visit www.statemuseum.nj.gov, like the Museum’s Facebook page (@NJStateMuseum), and follow us on X (njstatemuseum), Instagram (nj_statemuseum), Threads (nj_statemuseum) and YouTube (@newjerseystatemuseum1895.) About the New Jersey State Museum The New Jersey State Museum is a center for the exploration of science, history and the arts. We preserve and share stories that inspire curiosity and creativity for the enrichment of our communities. Located at 205 West State Street in Trenton, the New Jersey State Museum has the largest museum collection in the state and encompasses three buildings including a state-of-the-art Planetarium.  Established in 1895, the State Museum’s collections in Archaeology/Ethnography, Cultural History, Fine Art and Natural History contain over 2 million objects. About the New Jersey State Museum Foundation The New Jersey State Museum Foundation was founded in 1968 as a non-government, non-profit 501(c)(3) to support the Museum’s collections, exhibitions, programs and research through fundraising, volunteerism and advocacy. In recent years, the Foundation has received generous support from the PNC Foundation, NJM Insurance Group, Department of State/New Jersey Historical Commission, New Jersey Council for the Humanities, The Henry Luce Foundation and Princeton Area Community Foundation. The Foundation also operates the Museum membership program, as well as the Museum Shop, which sells merchandise related to the Museum’s exhibitions, collections, and New Jersey history and culture. Proceeds support the New Jersey State Museum’s collections, exhibitions and programs. — Courtesy of The New Jersey State Museum