From the Vault

Staff Selections from the Collection

A painting by Curtis Robinson depicting the exterior of UB Anderson Gallery on a clear, blue-skied day. The building’s distinctive brick and glass façade stretches across the canvas, flanked by manicured landscaping and an empty parking lot in the foreground. On the right, a bold black abstract sculpture anchors the curved driveway near a small white gazebo. To the far right, colorful houses in yellow, white, and blue add a residential backdrop, with visible power lines and a hand-painted sign reading “Anderson Gallery Exhibition Entrance.”.

Curtis Robinson, The Anderson Gallery (detail), 1992. Oil on canvas, 30 1/8 x 83 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Dates

April 25–July 26, 2025

Location

UB Anderson Gallery

Related Programs

Additional Content

Description

From the Vault: Staff Selections from the Collection offers a glimpse into the personal connections and perspectives of the UB Art Galleries team. This exhibition showcases a curated selection of artwork chosen not by a single curator, but by every member of the staff—gallery attendants, installers, maintenance workers, interns, and more. Each selection reflects the individuals behind the scenes, revealing the wide-ranging ways in which art resonates and inspires.

From the familiar faces who greet visitors at the door to the dedicated staff who care for the collection, manage finances, and work with students, this exhibition celebrates the people who bring UB Art Galleries to life every day. Through their eyes, we see the collection in a new light. This exhibition also celebrates the 25th anniversary of UB Art Galleries by exploring the breadth of the collection. International and regional artists featured in this exhibition include Antoni Tàpies, Louise Nevelson, Clayton Pond, Virginia Cuthbert-Elliott, Claes Oldenburg, Bonnie Gordon, Charlie Clough, Elizabeth Murray, Patricia Layman Bazelon, and many others. From the Vault invites you to experience the gallery not just as a space for art, but as a community of passionate individuals with expertise, stories, and perspectives to share.

Celebrating 25 years of UB Art Galleries

In 2025, the University at Buffalo Art Galleries marks its 25th anniversary—a milestone that invites reflection on the evolution and breadth of our permanent collection. This yearlong celebration honors a foundational moment in 2000, when David K. Anderson made a transformative gift to the university: the Anderson Gallery building, a significant collection of modern and contemporary art, and the Martha Jackson Gallery Archives. This pivotal donation, together with the merging of the Center for the Arts Gallery, laid the groundwork for what is now UB Art Galleries.

Since then, the UB Art Galleries Collection has grown into a dynamic resource encompassing post–World War II American art, expansive holdings in modern and contemporary prints, drawings, and photographs, and selected ethnographic works. These collections and archives serve as active sites of research and inquiry, regularly engaged by students, faculty, and scholars, and are featured in exhibitions around the world.

Throughout 2025, UB Art Galleries will spotlight the richness of its holdings through a variety of formats—exhibitions, publications, digital features, and public programs—offering new opportunities to explore the depth and resonance of our collections. This anniversary year underscores our commitment to advancing art as both inquiry and creative practice, and to supporting ideas that are urgent and relevant to our time and place.