The Department of Art and Art History begins the academic year with the exhibition "Emblazoned Ciphers" at the Eisentrager•Howard Gallery in Richards Hall. The exhibition opens Sept. 6 and runs through Oct. 6. An opening reception is 5:30 to 7 p.m., Sept. 7 in the gallery. The reception is free and open to the public.
"Emblazoned Ciphers" features the work of four contemporary artists residing and working in Kansas City, Mo. The included artists are Barry Anderson, Rickey Allman, Julie Farstad and Linnea Spransy. Characterized by the effusive use of color, their works are executed through the mediums of painting, video and mixed-media formats. The exhibition is curated by UNL associate professor of art Aaron Holz.
"The characters within Barry Anderson's meditative videos frequently find themselves in constructed, transitional spaces that seductively intertwine the virtual and the real," said Christopher Cook, director of the Salina Art Center. "His signature style of slow, looping imagery coaxes viewers into a soothing state of reverie where they may contemplate universal themes of identity, discovery, and being."
The non-representational paintings of Allman and Spransy express over-layered states of movement and fluidity in broad palettes of color. Allman refers to the architectonic urban environment; while Spransy addresses microcosms of the biological world translated into macro-sized color compositions.
Counterpoised to the larger scale paintings, Farstad presents small dimensional constructions depicting children in ambiguous fantasy narratives. Her representational elements come from photographs, animations, computer enhanced and other appropriated images.
All of the artists utilized generous elements of color in their works. They are represented by Byron Cohen Gallery in Kansas City, Mo.
The Eisentrager•Howard Gallery is located on the first floor of Richards Hall. Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday, noon-4 p.m. The gallery is free and open to the public.