SHADOW COURT: That’s the title of this photograph by Mercer County Community faculty artist Aubrey J. Kauffman. An exhibition of Mr. Kauffman’s images of basketball courts, stadiums, soccer, and lacrosse fields is on display in the solo exhibition, “It’s Not About the Game,” in the Marguerite and James Hutchins Gallery in the Lawrenceville School’s Gruss Center of Visual Arts though January 23. A public reception with the artist will be held on Sunday, December 14, from 2 to 4 p.m. The Lawrenceville School is located at 2500 Main Street in Lawrenceville. Gallery hours are Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon. and 1 to 4:30 p.m.; and Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. The Gruss Center will be closed from December 18 through January 5. For more information, visit www.lawrenceville.org.

Photographic works by the Princeton-born and Lawrenceville-raised artist Aubrey J. Kauffman, are currently on display in the Marguerite and James Hutchins Gallery in the Lawrenceville School’s Gruss Center of Visual Arts.

The exhibition, titled “It’s Not About the Game,” will run though January 23. There will be a public reception with the artist on Sunday, December 14, from 2 to 4 p.m.

In this exhibit, Kauffman has created images of several sites including basketball courts, stadiums, soccer, and lacrosse fields. In all cases the images are devoid of activity and human interaction. “Urban studies have long been a major part of my photographic practice,” explained Kauffman. “My work extends from abandoned urban structures and shopping malls to building facades, parks, and ball fields.”

The artist has said that his interest “… lies not in the portrayal of teams, sports, or players but in the visual elements of where play takes place. For me, ‘It’s Not About the Game.’”

Now a resident of Ewing, Mr. Kauffman received his BA from Jersey City State College and his MFA in visual arts from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts. He teaches photography at Mercer County Community College and is the gallery manager for Mason Gross Galleries at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

He was the creator and coordinator of “Trenton Takes: 24 Hours in the City,” a photo-documentary project featuring the work of 29 photographers who spent one 24 hour period photographing life in the city of Trenton, for which he edited the catalog. His work has been exhibited across the region in group exhibits in the Newark Museum, Philadelphia Photo Arts, New York’s Prince Street Gallery, and the Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover, Delaware, among others. His solo shows include the New Jersey State Museum, Mercer County Community College, the Southern Light Gallery in Amarillo, Texas, and New York’s 2nd and 7th Gallery.

Mr. Kauffman was guest curator for Rider University’s “Landscapes: Social, Political, Traditional” and was recently awarded the Mason Gross School of the Arts Brovero Photography Prize for Excellence in Photography and the New Brunswick Art Salon “Best in Collection.”

Founded in 1810, The Lawrenceville School is located at 2500 Main Street in Lawrenceville. The gallery is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Visitors are also welcome on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. The Gruss Center will be closed from December 18 through January 5. The galleries are open to the public, free of charge. For more information, visit www.lawrenceville.org.

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