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Exhibition Title:
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Visual Dialogues
A visual rejoinder to the theme of Difficult Dialogues,
a university-wide initiative supported by the Ford Foundation
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Artists:
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Stephen DiRado, Michael Dowling, Steve Hollinger, Illegal Art,
Steve Locke, James Montford, Sarina Khan Reddy, Elaine Spatz-Rabinowitz, Thomas Starr
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Location:
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Clark University, Traina Center for the Arts / Schiltkamp Gallery
92 Downing Street, Worcester
(Mailing address: 950 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01610)
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Dates:
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March 12 – April 20, 2007
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Gallery Hours:
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Monday – Thursday 9AM-10PM, Friday 9-4,
Saturday 12-4, Sunday 12-9
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Special Events:
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On Tuesday, April 3 and Wednesday April 4, artists Michael Dowling, Illegal Art, and James Montford will bring interactive performances to campus.
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Artists' Talk:
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These performance artists will talk about their work
Wednesday, April 4 at 2:30 in Razzo Hall,
Traina Center for the Arts.
Reception following.
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Further Information:
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(508) 793-7113 / 7349
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Exhibition Curator:
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Professor Elli Crocker, Studio Art Program (508-793-8818)
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Gallery Director:
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Tina Zlody (508) 793-7113
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The Difficult Dialogues project is aimed at creating a culture of dialogue on the Clark campus. As part of the Ford Foundation's national initiative to encourage discourse across differences, Clark University was selected as one of 27 institutions of higher learning from 675 applicants to participate. This exhibition and related events bring visual artists to campus whose work confronts topics that are difficult, as well as working in ways that stimulate dialogue and interaction.
Stephen DiRado, who teaches photography at Clark University, chronicles the ravages of aging and Alzheimer's disease on his father. These highly personal photos bear witness to Gene DiRado's painful decline, while evidencing also the strong bonds that exist between father and son.
Michael Dowling is the creator and director of Medicine Wheel Productions in Boston and is best known for organizing elaborate interactive events and powerful visual imagery at Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama building in commemoration of World AIDS day on December 1st each year. To heighten awareness of the fact that most new cases of HIV/AIDS in America are afflicting 18-25 year olds, and therefore the peer population of Clark's student body, Dowling will bring a related interactive performance piece to campus.
Steve Hollinger's "Atomic" series of sculptures and photographs were inspired by the events of the atomic age. He says, "In this relatively short period between 1945 and 1960, the most significant of scientific achievements arrived with lasting and largely unmanageable consequences. The Atomic series was created as a personal response to my own deeper questions about humanity; on certainty and fallibility".
Illegal Art is an artist collaborative from NYC, "whose goal is to create interactive public art to inspire self-reflection, thought, and human connection. Each piece is then presented or distributed in a method in which participation is simple and encouraged."
Steve Locke's paintings portray random intimacies between men and explore some of the cultural constructs around gay identity. The encounters depicted are fraught with both playfulness and tension, anonymity and familiarity.
James Montford confronts racism and cultural stereotypes in his challenging performance pieces, which are also documented in large color photos in the gallery. Identifying himself as African American and Native American, Montford plumbs his own experiences to create this work and hopes to heighten awareness of contemporary racism – especially among populations that may feel this is "not a problem here".
Sarina Khan Reddy, who is of Indian descent "explores the perpetuation of the colonialist image" in photographs taken at Disney's theme park, Animal Kingdom. Her video works examine colonial imperialism and ongoing east/west dialectics.
Elaine Spatz-Rabinowitz's drawings quietly yet forcefully depict individual casualties of the current wave of global violence. She describes the genesis for this series: "During the summer of 2005 I did fifty drawings, which were a cumulative response to daily news reports of events around the world. Violence seemed ubiquitous—Iraq, Madrid, London, Russia, Israel—and as it filled the world, so did it fill my consciousness."
Thomas Starr is a graphic designer/artist whose public art project, Remembering Boston's Children 1980-2005, "uses an MBTA bus as a mobile canvas. The schoolbus-yellow vehicle enables a powerful message about urban childhood violence--authored by children themselves--to travel throughout the city. The format of the bus, a mode of transportation that connects all
classes and neighborhoods, is an ideal medium for bringing this message to all citizens."
For more information about Difficult Dialogues events on campus please visit: www.clarku.edu/difficult dialogues
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