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UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM, CSU LONG BEACH2000/2001 EXHIBITIONS
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| July 10-29, 2001 "Worth a Thousand Words: The Narrative Impulse Sounding Off: A Series of Audio Installation", Seletions from the UAM permanent collection. and "Sounding Off", weekly audio installations by Anne Bray, Joshua Yang, and Mannlicher Carcano On view July 10-29, the University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, presents "Worth a Thousand Words: The Narrative Impulse," an exhibition of work from the museum’s permanent collection, curated by Associate Director Ilee Kaplan. In the world of de-, re-, and over-construction, there are artists who propose a direct and creative link with their audience. These artists present recognizable images composed in environments that stimulate the questions who?, what?, where?, and how?. The stories that these works suggest can be either intentional or accidental; the relationships based on artistic imagination or a fleeting moment in reality. The images selected for "Worth a Thousand Words" have been chosen for the ambiguous, yet diverse meanings which they convey, creating a tension that the audience will think about, participate in, and play back to themselves. Among the artists included in the exhibition are Jonathan Borofsky, Richard Bosman, Eric Fischl, Maria Gomez, Graciela Iturbide, David Levinthal, Howard Schatz, and Lorna Simpson. This summer, the UAM also introduces a series of innovative audio installations organized by Curator of Education, Liz Harvey. "Sounding Off" consists of three programs composed by artists Anne Bray,Joshua Yang, and the collaborative group Mannlicher Carcano. Open July 10-15, Anne Bray's installation "Ashes, Ashes" brings together narrative fragments and objects. Describing the actions of multiple characters, the narrator's voice emits from an institutional speaker set into a suitcase. The larger story, formed from these short snippets, suggests ordinary people dealing with an unnamed catastrophe. Bray, who teaches Public Art at USC and New Genres at Claremont Graduate University, has displayed art at gas stations, malls, movie theaters, on television, in department stores, on billboards, in homes, and has proposed to show artists' videos between innings at Dodger Stadium. As an artist she has produced public art projects funded by Public Art Fund and others, and mixed media installations at Santa Monica Museum of Art and elsewhere. Bray also directs L.A. Freewaves, a consortium of arts organizations, cable stations, libraries and schools presenting a decentralized video and new media festival every two years throughout Los Angeles. Joshua Yang's "33 minutes" and "gigi," presented July 17-22, consists of two recordings that are played simultaneously to create ambient music. Visitors are encouraged to partake in reading and relaxing while experiencing this sound installation. Yang, who holds an MFA in composition from CalArts, has composed and performed music for short films, animation, and musical theatre works. Yang often experiments with audio art installations, and is currently composing a work in conjunction with an upcoming exhibition of Korean art. Open July 24-29, Mannlicher Carcano's "Off Register" is a soundscape created by the simultaneous playing of three individually composed sections of different lengths, which constantly recombine into new configurations. Mannlicher Carcano is comprised of three members, Porter Hall, Really Happening, and Gogo Godot, each of whom lives in a different North American city. Each collaborator created his portion of "Off Register" without knowledge of the other components, thereby creating a sound environment removed from both geographical specificity and individual creative intent. The work is a continuation of the group’s "Ambient Narrative" series, which uses narrative elements and structures (musical, verbal, documentary, and theatrical), and assembles them into a shifting, participatory, non-hierarchical continuum. Mannlicher Carcano is an experimental, improvisational audio collage group who have been working together for 15 years, creating performances, recordings, installations, and radio art. They produce a weekly radio and web-cast, "The Mannlicher Carcano Radio Hour," and have recently released a CD format album. May 10–June 1, 2001 Reception for the artists, Thursday, May 10th from 5-7 pm Insights 2001: The Annual Student Exhibition Insights 2001: The Annual Student Exhibition opens at the University Art Museum Thursday, May 10th, and will be on view through June 1, 2001. Insights 2001 features works by both graduate and undergraduate students in the California State University, Long Beach Art Department. Juried by Long Beach Museum of Art curator Martin Betz, the exhibition highlights work by students in all disciplines, including ceramics, drawing and painting, graphic design, illustration, photography, printmaking, fiber, metal/jewelry, and new genre. The exhibition demonstrates the extraordinary level of artistic achievement at the University. As part of California’s largest publicly funded College of the Arts, CSULB’s Department of Art seeks to “train artists with vision to become what they want to be-- not what anyone else has already been.” Long a flagship institution, the department boasts one of the nation’s most comprehensive programs. The diversity of studio art curriculum offered reflects the department’s commitment to encourage students to pursue a variety of goals, not limited by materials or technique. As described by Art Department Chair Jay Kvapil, Insights 2001 expresses “who the department is, as seen through the eyes of its students.” The UAM invites families to make this exciting annual exhibition a part of their graduation festivities, and in order to accommodate guests, will offer extended hours during commencement. |
| March 27-April 29, 2001 Catherine Chalmers: "Prey and Eat" Online exhibition portfolio The University Art Museum premieres Catherine Chalmers: Prey and Eat, which includes selections from two recent series of photographs by New York artist Catherine Chalmers in her first West Coast museum show. The sixteen large-scale works in the exhibition are the result of the artist’s long-term project, which involves raising insects and animals in order to recreate the predator-prey encounters that ordinarily take place in the wild, and capturing them on film. In one series, entitled Food Chain, the images sketch with vivid intimacy, on a stark white background, scenes of a caterpillar eating a tomato, a praying mantis eating a caterpillar, and a frog eating a praying mantis. The result is humorous, surprising, and unsettling. The theme is expanded upon in another series entitled Pinkies (the pet-trade name for baby mice), which conveys the uncomfortable message that mammals are subject to the same immutable laws of nature as are the so-called "lower" life forms. This series depicts the birth and imminent death of baby mice. |
 Catherine Chalmers, "Birth". |
 The Starn Twins, "Double Rembrandt with Steps (detail). |
Stark, colorful, and arresting, Chalmers's images reinvent natural history for a culture that is increasingly distanced from nature. A fully illustrated book, published by Aperture, which features an essay by Gordon Grice, an interview with the artist, the entire body of images from the exhibition, and more, is available. "19+1+1", works new to the University Art Museum's permanent collection Online exhibition portfolio An exhibition highlighting works new to the University Art Museum’s permanent collection, 19+1+1 features 19 photographs, one drawing, and one wall sculpture. In the interest of chronicling the museum’s activities for scholarly and archival purposes, the UAM makes an effort to acquire a work of art that represents each of its exhibitions. Over its twenty-five-year history of presenting diverse, often groundbreaking exhibitions, the museum has amassed a world-class collection of contemporary artwork. On the occasion of this exhibition, the UAM will display the latest additions to its artistic coffers. Among the artists whose works are included are Robert Adams, Tina Barney, James Drake, Sally Gall, Jill Giegerich, Amy Myers, and the Starn Twins. |
November 13—December 17, 2000 Long Beach 2000: Faculty Biennial This exhibition will present recent works by Art Department faculty of the California State University, Long Beach. Long Beach 2000 offers both the university and community audiences an overview of the range of artistic expertise found among the artists on this campus. The exhibition provides a special opportunity to see new works by longtime members of the Art Department and to become acquainted with the talents of new and visiting faculty at CSULB. There is a variety of media represented in this show including printmaking, painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, graphic design, photography, illustration, and fiber, among others. The artists will include Archie Boston, Douglas Buis, Kristen Calabrese, Patricia Clark, Gene Cooper, Domenic Cretara, Linda Day, Lisa French, Todd Gray, Thomas Hall, Elizabeth Hartung, Tor Hovind, Tom Krumpak, Christopher Miles, Brian Sanderson, Roxanne Sexauer, Carlos Silveira, Susanna Speirs, Craig Stone, Marie Thibeault, and Sun Koo Yuh among others.
August 29—October 29, 2000 Selections from the Hampton Collection Online exhibition portfolio The UAM will present an exhibition highlighting selections from the Hampton Collection, which was acquired in the fall of 1999. Donated to the University by the estate of prominent attorney and art-lover Gordon F, Hampton, the collection is an impressive body of work rich in second-generation Abstract Expressionist paintings. The exhibition, which will be curated by CSULB Museum Studies students, will examine the various manifestations of the gestural impulse, the artist’s expression of the self, in the Abstract Expressionist movement. Works by such highly celebrated artists as Lee Krasner, Al Held, and Michael Goldberg will be included. |
