Thursday, May 11, 2017 - 9:00 a.m. to Wednesday, July 5, 2017 - 4:30 p.m.
Prologue includes work by Jamie Berry, Edmari Hernandez-Silen, Josh Knight, Chad Penner, and Jason Porter.
Exhibition Dates: May 11 – July 5, 2017
This exhibition is a survey of works by current graduate students entering their final year of the Master of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art and Master of Arts degree in Media Arts at the University of South Carolina's School of Visual Art and Design. The wide variety of works include: drawing, illustration, painting, and sculpture.
Please join us for the Opening Reception on Thursday May 11th from 5-7 p.m. with a group artist talk at 6pm.
This current body of work is the coupling of formalism and conceptualism; using simple shapes to create a subtle narrative devoid of personification of the elements, individually, or as a whole. The juxtaposition of any two—or more—materials creates a relationship between those materials that is more clearly seen through simplistic forms. This is in contrast to complex forms where the eye may become lost within the complexity and relationship is overlooked. The idea of two things existing within a relationship invokes the biological, and usually zoological, notions of the three symbiotic relationships; mutualism, where both subjects benefit from the relationship, commensalism, where one benefits but does not harm the other, and parasitism, where one benefits at the cost of the other.
Jamie Berry
My work conveys the aesthetics and the vitality of the environment when submersed underwater. I convey the obscure depths of the seascapes stretching into the distance, while certain features closer to the foreground are emphasized with fluid clarity. Although the seascapes appear desolate, corals, aquatic plants, and fish endure throughout the pictured environment as a reference to sea-life survival in endangered habitats. The paintings attempt to overwhelm the viewer with the hazy flux of the ocean, and to acknowledge the current conditions of underwater life.
Edmari Hernandez-Silen
Through a series of self-portraits in various mediums, my work is an exploration of self-reflection. The process of making work is a vehicle to reflect on how I see myself and how others see me while taking into account my experiences from early childhood through today.
Josh Knight
My work combines superhero imagery with classical compositions to create a commentary on current sociopolitical issues. These drawings function as a layering of systems of signs from both the superhero genre and classical and neoclassical painting and sculpture, culminating in a form of parody or satire that appropriates and recontextualizes imagery to criticize or highlight a relevant subject. In turn, I am utilizing the complex cultural and fictional histories of American superheroes as allegories for the equally nuanced history of America as a superpower.
Chad Penner
My work focuses on understanding how children make meaning within their own world as an attempt to process and interact within the larger, adult domain they live in. As children make sense of the world, it is often adult culture that provides the resources for exploration and understanding. However, as adults we often attempt to understand children’s culture through the lens of personal history. I explore the tension in the agency of youthful appropriation and adult lived experience.
Jason Porter