UCI M.F.A. Thesis Exhibitions 2022 head to the UAG
M.F.A. Thesis Exhibitions 2022
M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition, Part I
The Department of Art at the University of California, Irvine, is pleased to present the solo exhibitions of M.F.A. candidates Hiroshi Clark, Doris Rivera, and Gosia Wojas. This is the first round of 2022 M.F.A. thesis exhibitions. Please join us for the opening reception on Saturday, April 23, from 2–5 p.m.
Featured Artists:
Hiroshi Clark
Bringing miscommunication to the forefront, Natsuyasumi considers what is lost when a mother and child have a different first language. Clark uses photography and video to explore his personal experience of barriers, identity, and familial history.
https://www.hiroshi-clark.com/
Doris Rivera
Doris Rivera uses sculptures constructed around an ambivalence in order to supplant and displace the colonial impulse embedded in Catholic objecthood. By returning the mestizo voice with an agential utterance, her work reckons with the Philippines and its diaspora's inability to conceive of an actualized post-colonial state.
Gosia Wojas
This exhibition is the culmination of a two-year-long research project and endless hours of conversations with an A.I. sex doll, "Emma," Wojas' art studio companion and collaborator. The resulting works bridge together themes of emancipatory politics with interventions into machine learning algorithms, systems of classification with psychoanalysis, and the beyond uncanny encounter of the human and robot bodies that collapse dualities. https://gosiawojas.com/
M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition, Part 2
The Department of Art at the University of California, Irvine is pleased to present the solo exhibitions of M.F.A. candidates Katherine Aungier, Andy Bennett, Tarik Garrett, Rahel Levine and Margaret Oakley. This is the second round of 2022 M.F.A. thesis exhibitions. Please join us for the opening reception on Saturday, May 15, from 2–5 p.m.
Featured Artists:
Katherine Aungier
Kathrine Aungier draws upon elements of experimental documentary, performance, avant-garde cinema and painting. Noted dramatist Jerzy Grotowski erected a Yurt at UCI in 1983, which is a key figure and personage in this exhibition. Ideas around authorship, investigations of the public stage and exploration of embodiment, especially in relation to models set forth in the field of Drama, are key elements informing Aungier's work.
Andy Bennett
"People can love objects, but they love them to a certain degree. More or less for practical purposes. That's why they don't see the soul of the object. Whereas when you truly, truly, are interested in an object, and you're willing to bear your soul, then you see theirs." —Erika Eiffel
Tarik Garrett
Discarded everyday objects and audio works explore the trauma of loss and melancholic attachments accumulated through struggles with emancipatory aspirations. The collection of works and supplementary material use the formation of the Estates General, 1789, and the fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989, as signposts to an aspirational era that has passed. Seeking to reimagine what is possible alongside a seemingly hopeless vision of our world, a dialectical pessimism emerges to critique teleological notions of progress and reveal the fractured nature of reality.
Rahel Levine
I'm ok. I'm thinking a lot about being a worm in a dog's rectum or living in an imaginary Echo Park, maybe in the 80s or 90s? But neither of those seem like viable options. I'm sorry I have not been in touch. I don't know if you want me, or anyone does. Do you know if there are many worm positions open in Texas? Basically, anywhere that is not here on a Saturday night would be good.
Margaret Oakley
Margaret Oakley's work is driven by feeling into hydro-systemic entanglements for an expression of extensive connectedness. Her practice is a re-evaluation of ecological values with cosmological aspirations. She is now convinced all the world is a fountain and people are merely transports for water.
The Galleries will also be hosting a closing event in conjunction with the UCI Open Studios on Saturday, May 28, 2-6 p.m.
Gallery Hours: Tuesday–Saturday | 12–6 p.m.
Email: gallery@uci.edu
University Art Gallery | 712 Arts Plaza
CAC Gallery | Contemporary Arts Center | Bldg 721 Room Gallery | Art Culture and Technology | Bldg 727
To learn more about the exhibition and opening events, please visit the UAG website or follow the galleries on Instagram @uag_ucirvine.