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untitled

Three approaches to contemporary visual arts from Peru.

December 12, 2008 - February 14, 2009

Images courtesy of the artists Diego Lama and Fernando Gutierrez. Curated by Mauricio Delfin.

En Espanol

The opening reception for this exhibition, opening December 12, 2008, includes works by Cristian Alarcón Ismodes, Fernando Gutierrez and Diego Lama, three visual artists from Lima, Peru. Their works allow us to address contemporary art from Peru through multiple perspectives and ideas on identity, resistance and embodiment.

Implicit in these artistic approaches are reflections upon the relationship between artist and technique, image and domination, violence and body. Untitled aims to reflect upon the evolving nature of contemporary Peruvian art in its dialogue with global and local languages and perspectives.

Fernando Gutierrez “Huanchaco” develops the story of Superchaco, a tragic Peruvian superhero. Through paintings, videos and animations. Superchaco helps us reflect on the new urban and global cultures as they affect visions and aspirations in emerging societies. Influenced by comics and pop culture, Huanchaco steals, recycles and subverts new but established symbols of consumer culture, rendering them “Peruvian’ in all their contradiction and reconfigured symbolic content.

Diego Lama approaches conflict and violence from a very personal and physical perspective, using cinematic resources to reflect upon their relationship to painting and photography. Lama’s conscious approach in the use of visual media and his interest in addressing essential themes as love and death, provides for pieces of exquisite yet sordid textures, sublime and twisted characters whose internal conflicts rise and deform what is to be expected.

Works by Cristian Alarcón Ismodes come from a preoccupation with the Peruvian periphery – the provinces – and their experience with armed violence in recent history. Working with animation, Alarcón creates a Peruvian character, The Cuy-rata, rendering it a grotesque creature, who literally eats alive the naive yet loaded referent of Mickey Mouse, the famous rodent, as “naturally” as most Peruvians eat the traditional baked guinea pig or “cuy” dish; a mediated circle of food and ingestion of symbols and ideologies.

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Mind the Gap

noticing the unnoticed

September 12 - November 22, 2008
Opening Reception: Friday, September 12, 2008 at 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Artists speak at 6:00 p.m.
Location: Gallery of Contemporary, UCCS

Sarah Ross
Archisuits 2005
color photograph

The Gallery of Contemporary Art, UCCS presents Mind the Gap: Noticing the Unnoticed opening September 12, 2008.  This exhibition, curated by exiting Gallery Director Christopher Lynn, looks at negative space – the areas surrounding intended focus.

Negative space is often thought of in terms of our two and three-dimensional visual world.  The landscape rendered behind the figure in a portrait or the empty air between the legs of a bronze statue can be seen as negative space, whereas the figure and the bronze statue are seen as positive space.  The gaps of negative space are not areas that we are intended to observe at a highly conscious level, but are to remain in the background and unnoticed.  However, these interstitial spaces are what help define their companion positive space by interrupting the continuity of the positive space.

Mind the Gap seeks to extend the reach of negative space to consider time and concept as well as the visual.  The artists in the exhibition deal with pauses in dialogue rather than the words spoken, small aberrations in architecture rather than the building’s looming facade, or a vacant lot rather than the occupied store next door. The artists take the background and make it the foreground.  By pointing out what is typically unnoticed, we are encouraged to re-examine our world and look around the obvious to the other parts that make up our existence: the gaps.

“This exhibition brings together some tremendous talent and intellectual rigor to Colorado Springs,” says departing Director Christopher Lynn.  “The various practices of the artists will allow a number of entry points to an idea that most people don’t even notice by definition: the unnoticed.”

Participating artists have been gathered from around the globe: Jared Lindsay Clark (Brooklyn), Jennifer Danos (Minneapolis), e-Xplo (Berlin, New York), John Pilson (New York), Sarah Ross (Bloomington, IL), and Doron Solomons (Tel Aviv).

Exhibition artist, John Pilson, will be showing work from a series entitled Interregna, a term which means the interim between the reigns of rulers.  The Gallery of Contemporary Art itself is experiencing an interregnum with the departure of its Director, Christopher Lynn.  The exhibition’s opening reception will introduce the Gallery’s new Interim Director, Caitlin Green, who takes the helm after Christopher Lynn’s exit.

Mind the Gap Exhibition Images

Overview of the Mind the Gap exhibition

   

Jared Clark
Bilt 39, 2008
Found objects: plinths, refrigerators, washer, dryer, stove, microwave ovens, filing cabinets, computers, wood, styrofoam

   

Jared Clark
Bilt 39 (back), 2008
Found objects: plinths, refrigerators, washer, dryer, stove, microwave ovens, filing cabinets, computers, wood, styrofoam

   

Jared Clark
Bilt 38 (back), 2008
Styrofoam

   

Jennifer Danos
Untitled (Real Floors 2), 2008
Natural Oak Contact Paper

   

Jennifer Danos
Untitled (Real Floors 2), 2008
Natural Oak Contact Paper
28 x 34″

   

Jennifer Danos
Untitled (Real Floors 2) close up, 2008
Natural Oak Contact Paper

   

e-Xplo
Letters to Larry, 2008
Audio Play
Located at Heller Ranch

   

John Pilson
Above the Grid, 2000
2-channel video

   

John Pilson
Above the Grid, 2000
2-channel video, different frame

   

John Pilson
Above the Grid (Suit and Ball), three Interegnas: Monster, Grapefruit, and Maura, 1999-2007
Silver Gelatin Prints

   

Sarah Ross
Archisuits, 2005
Custom Jogging Suits, Inkjet Prints and DVD

   

Sarah Ross
Archisuits, 2005
Custom Jogging Suits

   

Doron Solomons
Tonight’s Headlines and My Collected Silences, 2006 and 1996
DVD

Looking back at the Mind the Gap exhibition

Artist Bios

Jared Clark has had residencies at Kompact Living Space, Berlin, Germany; Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT; Art Omi, international artist residency, Hudson, NY; and has received the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Foundation Fellowship. His work has been exhibited at Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Denise Bibro Fine Arts, New York; SWARM Gallery, Oakland, CA; and Deitch Projects, New York City, NY.

Jennifer Danos has exhibited at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design; Minnesota Emerging Artists Program, Rochester Art Center, MN; High Energy Constructs; Los Angeles; the Arthouse, Austin, TX; and the Peeler Art Center at DePauw University, Greencastle, IN.

e-Xplo is an artist collective consisting of three accomplished artists: Heimo Lattner, Erin McGonigle and Rene Gabri. e-Xplo has exhibited as part of the Sharjah Biennial 8, United Arab Emirates; Akademie der Künste, Berlin; and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA. Read more about their audio play Letters to Larry.

John Pilson is represented by Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY and has shown at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH; LOOP ‘06, Barcelona, Spain; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; ArtPace, San Antonio, Texas; Zink and Gegner, Munich, Germany; Western Front Exhibitions, Vancouver, Canada; Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands; P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY; Prospect.1, New Orleans, LA; the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; and the Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY.

Sarah Ross is the recipient of a grant from the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship. She has exhibited work in Messhall, Chicago, IL; YNKB, Copenhagen, DK; PS122 Gallery, New York, NY; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA; Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, NY; Institute for New Media, Frankfurt, Germany; and META Cultural Foundation, Bucharest, Romania.  Ross has also published writing in several journals and papers and organized events and art exhibitions.

Doron Solomons is represented by Sommer Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv and his work has been featured in exhibitions at the Center for Contemporary Art, Tel-Aviv; Herzliya Museum of Art, Herzliya; Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Santa Monica Museum of Art, CA; La Casa Encendida, Madrid; Flanders Fields Museum, Belgium; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston Texas; 50th Venice Biennial, Venice; and Neue Gesellschaft fur Bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin. 

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New Faculty

Matt Barton and Corey Drieth

June 20 - August 7, 2008
Opening Reception: Friday, June 20, 2008
Public Reception: 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Supporter Reception with Artists' Talk: 5:30-7:00 p.m.

Matt Barton
The Affects of the Effects of Gravity, 2008
video and mixed media

The Gallery of Contemporary Art, UCCS presents New Faculty: Matt Barton and Corey Drieth opening June 20. The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs hired two new studio art faculty members in 2007: Matt Barton (3D) and Corey Drieth (2D). The Gallery of Contemporary Art will introduce you to the work of these engaging new figures on the Pikes Peak art scene.

Matt Barton graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Art and Bachelors in Art Education from Montana State University and his Masters of Fine Art from Carnegie Mellon University. While growing up southern Indiana, he worked as a performer at Chuck E. Cheese, dancing in a rat suit while a mechanical animal band performed hit songs, such as, “Walkin’ on Sunshine.” True to his roots at Chuck E. Cheese, Matt’s puckish artwork often utilizes motorized, convulsing and gyrating plush and stuffed animals. Video collages are projected on the walls, providing a room-size environment for the activities of the mechanically enhanced woodland creatures.

Barton says, “I want to instill a bit of wonder and questioning in the lightest possible sense. I want to tickle a remote nerve ending in the imagination, stimulate atrophied curiosity, and evoke a small remnant of a childlike spark that recognizes the magic that can exist when we view the world through playful eyes.”

In the work of Corey Drieth, paint washes gently over the subtle wood grain of the surface of his panels. Resembling curtains or flowing water, his paintings act as meditative facades. Drieth cites Georgia O’Keefe, Arthur Dove and the minimalist Agnes Martin as influences upon his work suggesting his love of simple, small-scale abstraction. Drieth says of his work, “Inspired by the natural world, art history and religious traditions such as Zen Buddhism and Quaker Christianity, my paintings and drawings explore contemplative spiritual experience. Because [my paintings] require quietude during a time of de-humanizing speed, clutter and noise, they serve as both a foil to the frenetic activity of contemporary life and as a method of sustenance within it.”

Drieth was born and raised in Northern Colorado. He attended Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins and received undergraduate degrees in Philosophy/Comparative Religious Studies and Studio Art. He later attended graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he received his MFA in drawing and painting. Before arriving at UCCS, Drieth taught studio art classes at CSU, the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia.

Parking for the opening reception will be free in lots 3 & 4 only.

Images

  

Exhibiting artist Corey Drieth entertains guests in his space.

  

Patrons enjoy Matt Barton’s fort.

  

Exhibiting artist Matt Barton (in white t-shirt) chats with some visitors.

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2008 Senior Exhibition

May 2 - June 7, 2008
Opening Reception: Friday, May 2, 2008, 5:30 - 8:00 p.m.

The 2008 Senior Exhibition highlights new artwork by graduating seniors of UCCS’s Visual and Performing Arts department. This is the second senior art exhibition held at UCCS and it is a tradition that will continue annually.

Exhibition Artists

• Rebecca Bauer
• Migdalia Caban
• Adam Eldridge
• Karen Freed
• Heidi Haire
• Scott Kakigi
• Joshua Kemp
• Sooin Kwon
• Charlotte Miller
• Jennifer O’Connell
• Carissa Szarkowski
• Alexis Treulieb
• Nancy Wells-Georgia
• Tyler Wendt

The Visual and Performing Arts department (VaPA) offers a cross-disciplinary degree that encourages innovative collaboration between disciplines. This focus integrates art history, film studies, museum and gallery practice, music, theatre, and visual arts. Students will complete this degree with a primary concentration in one area and develop a comprehensive knowledge in each of the major disciplines. Through studio arts, performance, theory, scholarship, and creative uses of media and technology, students will engage in an investigative approach to the arts, where the local and global converge, where cross-fertilization inspires critical thinking, dialogue, improvisation, and where diversity of thought is intrinsic to artistic process and practice.

The opening reception is free and open to the public. Parking restrictions will be lifted for Lots 3 & 4 only for the opening reception.

Images

Rebecca Bauer
Vertigo, 2008
Digital print on matte paper
28 x 34″

Migdalia Caban
The Healing of the Feminine, 2008
Acrylic on canvas
30 x 40″

Adam Eldridge
Untitled (Knowledge of Good and Evil), 2007
Wood and collage
24 x 96 x 4″

Karen Freed
Illumination II (Making Memory), 2007
Photograph on backlit transparency
22 x 16 1/2″

Heidi Haire
Gum Specimens 2007, 2007
Gum, pins, foam, wood, glass
15 x 15″

Scott Kakigi
The Metamorphosis, 2008
Mixed media
26 x 34″

Joshua Kemp
Untitled # 5 (Sienna and Crimson), 2007
Oil on canvas
40 x 55″

Sooin Kwon
New York in Memory, 2008
Digital print
15 x 15″

Charlotte Miller
Pilothouse Hood Ornament, 2004
Digital photograph
8.5 x 11″

Jennifer O’Connell
EG, 2008
Color Photograph
15 x 10″

Carissa Szarkowski
Lion’s Breath, 2007
Water-based rubber block print
9 x 6″

Alexis Treulieb
Snow Queen, 2008
Silver gelatin print
8 x 8″

Nancy K. Wells-Georgia
Withered Roses and Broken Hearts II, 2008
Silver gelatin photograph
11 x 14″

Tyler Wendt
Untitled, 2007
Acrylic and oil on wood
4 x 4’

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1440 Minutes

An Evening of Installation and Performance Art

Public Reception: Friday, April 11, 2008, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Installation Viewing: Friday, April 11, 2008, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

The Gallery of Contemporary Art (GoCA) at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and the InterDisciplinary Experimental Arts program (IDEA) at Colorado College, are excited to announce a joint public program featuring Colorado contemporary artists. On Friday, April 11, IDEA and GoCA will host 1440 Minutes, a twenty-four-hour art installation and exhibition event, curated around the theme of “Social Spaces”. Simultaneous installations and performances by five Colorado artists will take place at GoCA, located at 1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway and Colorado College’s Coburn Gallery, located at 902 N. Cascade Avenue in the Worner Campus Center, as well as on a shuttle bus transporting visitors between the two sites. The public is invited to view the installation process at both locations on April 11 between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. The frantic day of installation will culminate in a festive, free reception, hosted at both institutions, from 5 to 8 p.m. A shuttle bus, which will also host an art installation, will be available to transport attendees between locations.

Exhibition curators Christopher Lynn, Director of the Gallery of Contemporary Art at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and Jessica Hunter Larsen, Curator of the InterDisciplinary Experimental Arts program at Colorado College, selected the 1440 Minutes artists from a pool of 20 applicants who answered an open call for proposals. Artists were invited to submit installation or performance-based projects that interpreted the theme of “Social Spaces”. The artists must install their artworks in the galleries in under 24 hours; they will begin at 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 10th and must be done by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 11, 2008. The public may view the installation process at both galleries on Friday, April 11 between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.; a reception will take place at both locations from 5 to 8 p.m. Curators Hunter Larsen and Lynn have conceived of the project as a way to open an ongoing dialogue among art, artists, and gallery audiences, as well as a way to link two vibrant contemporary art spaces in Colorado Springs.

Selected artists include:

• atomic elroy and the artofficial Choir
• The Bridge Club (featuring Julie Wills, Emily Bivens, Christine Owen & Annie Strader)
• Valerie Brodar and Angela Forster
• Goatsilk (featuring Caroline Peters & Ben Bloch)
• Jocelyn Nevel & Melanie Grimes
• Robert Snowden and Streeter Wright

Regular parking restrictions will be lifted for Lot 3 only from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

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Dario Šolman

The Heart of Perspective, The Making of the Film

February 22 - April 5, 2008
Opening Reception: Friday, February 22, 2008
Supporter Reception: 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
Public Reception: 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

The Heart of Perspective, The Making of the Film: Broken (detail), 2003
Animation / Video, 5:49 min

Dario Šolman’s The Heart of Perspective, The Making of the Film is an ongoing project begun in 2001 that consists of studies and tests for a film that will never be made. Šolman has stated, “When we use the word ‘film,’ we think of a possible film, a hypothetic interplay of image, sound and text. To avoid further confusion, we should think of it as film without a film. In other words, a film space that is not contained in a film shell.” Instead, Šolman uses the terms Cinemation or Secondary-Cinema to refer to his practice. He allows the evidences of the film – the tests, the texts, and the research – to define what this non-existent film is or can be.

Šolman employs a “block man” as an actor or proxy in his project. This protagonist can be both an empty vessel into which we may project ourselves or others, or a perfected, Platonic being that no one can be. This character is pathetic, searching, worshiped, and enigmatic. The Gallery of Contemporary Art will be exhibiting Šolman’s drawings, storyboards, and animation tests that orbit around The Heart of Perspective, the Making of the Film.

Šolman is a Croatian living and working in New York. His work has been exhibited at The Drawing Center, New York; 20th Slavonia Bienalle, Galerija umjetnina, Osijek, Croatia; Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka, Croatia; House of Croatian Artists (HDLU), Zagreb, Croatia; Gallery MC / The Doors Art Foundation, New York; Merano Arte edificio Cassa di Risparmio, Merano, Italy; Liquidacion Total, Madrid, Spain; Swiss Institute-Contemporary Art, New York; P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; Centre Place, Melbourne, Australia; Space Lab, Cleveland; and Alexandria Biennale, Alexandria, Egypt. He has also participated in the prestigious Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Residency, Workspace: The Woolworth Building Studios, New York; the P.S.1 Studio Program, New York; and the residency at the Cimelice Castle, Czech Republic.

Events

Pre-Show Appetizer
Thursday, February 7, 2008, 7:00 p.m.
Learn more about the artist and themes in the exhibition, Dario Šolman: The Heart of Perspective, the Making of the Film. Impress your family and amaze your friends with the insightful knowledge you will display at the opening reception – knowledge that you picked up weeks earlier at the Pre-Show Appetizer. Update (03.18.08): You can now listen to the audio recording of the Pre-Show Appetizer here.

Opening Reception
Friday, February 22, 2008
Supporter Reception: 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
Public Reception: 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
The artist Dario Šolman will be in conversation with Gallery Director Christopher Lynn during the Supporter Reception 5:30-7:00 p.m. with the discussion beginning at 6:00 p.m. At 7:00 p.m. the Gallery will open its doors to the public to enjoy food, drink and fantastic art.

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