luminous deer
Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition
FIRST THURSDAY OPENING
June 3, 6-9 p.m.
White Box
24 NW First Avenue, Portland, OR
June 4-25, 2010
HOURS OF OPERATION
The White Box is open
Tuesday-Saturday, noon-6 p.m.
Luminous Deer takes its cue from the historic Made in Oregon sign which graces the rooftop of the University of Oregon in Portland. The exhibition showcases the work of 13 dedicated artists who relocated to Portland for a fifth year of focused undergraduate study devoted entirely to the research and development of their terminal project. These highly motivated Digital Arts Bachelor of Fine Arts students creatively navigate between studio practice, media specific internships, academic study and individualized research. Collectively, their work challenges mediated assumptions of complicity and truth be it via social networks, political satire, reality television, excessive consumerism, cinema or simply through eloquent personal reflections on identity, nation and culture.
Their subject matter, individual to each, is as multifaceted as their visual landscape. Each has distilled their idea to its purest form and specifically chosen a media to convey its relevance. Alison Ho, influenced by being in-between cultures and multilingual, is interested in the tension of language. Christopher Oshiro is all about the glamorous pooch and our cultural obsession with humanizing our pets. Daniel Sexton likes to collect things and through creative exploration extends this practice into are coding of comic books and new magazines. Jennifer Cohen takes a Darwinian approach to social constructions that determine an animal’s desirability as pet by one culture and viability as a source of food by another. Drawing enables Kate Sessions to capture the immediacy of the fleeting moment. Liz Bayan examines her relationship to her computer, a tool she views as the ultimate confessional yet one whose sincerity she questions. Matt Nixon reconstructs early picture making technologies into cinematic overtures. Melissa Tennant engages the physical embodiment of animals and humans in 3-D animations. Nawal Alaoui explores spatial relations through video installation. Paul Calvert focuses on pop culture’s obsession with Michael Jackson. Priscilla Vasquez uses storytelling to decode the silence of childhood sexual experience. Sarah Ludwig investigates queer identity through visual explorations of domestic space. And lastly, Steven Uppinghouse uses political satire and popular slogans to highlight preconceived notions of power, nation and culture.
These 13 artists articulate their positions with an intensity and tenacity that leaves a distinct impression.
– Kartz Ucci and Zara Logue, Portland, Oregon June 2010
BFA DIGITAL ARTS 2010 CANDIDATES
Alison Ho
Christopher Oshiro
Daniel Sexton
Jennifer Cohen
Kate Sessions
Liz Bayan
Matthew Nixon
Melissa Tennant
Nawal Alaoui
Paul Calvert
Priscilla Vasquez
Sarah Ludwig
Steven Uppinghouse