2007-2008 UNO UNO ART GALLERY EXHIBITIONS

UNO Art Gallery
Weber Fine Arts Building 129
6001 Dodge Street
Omaha, NE 68182-0012
Phone: 402-554-2796
Website: www.unoartgallery.org

GALLERY HOURS
Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday: Noon – 4:00pm
Thursday: Noon – 8:00pm
Saturday: 1:00 – 4:00pm
Closed Sundays & Mondays

The UNO Art Gallery is free and open to the public

FALL SEMESTER 2007

Travis Conrad Erion: Symbols of the Soul
Giedre Montvila: Take A Look
Ann Weiner: To Bear Witness
Friday, August 31 – Saturday, October 13, 2007
Opening Reception (free and open to the public)
Friday, August 31, 6:30 – 8:30pm

Travis Conrad Erion
The oil paintings of Travis Conrad Erion do not constitute a wholesale return to Western symbolism, but they are something of a one-person revival of the mode. Technically, Erion - who apprenticed under sculptor Fritz White and painter Richard Schmid- is something of a whiz. His brand of super-realism is stunningly veristic; form and color are absolutely faithful to the realities they represent, tone and modeling are pure and perfect, and light plays across an Erion with all the exacting ardor the painter can summon for that quality. If he left things there, we would have just another American super-realist, a bland worshipper of the everyday, a follower of tabloid truths. Fortunately, Travis Erion has much more on his mind than verisimilitude; Erion is interested in telling a story - a maxim, an adage, even an allegory of inanimate objects- concerning life in these post-20th-century United States and just how vainglorious and vexatious it can be. Gerrit Henry, New York, 2003

Giedre Montvila
Montvila's drawings are easier to take than her chilling painted visions of today's society with its falseness, alienation, exploitation, emptiness. The colored-pencil drawings are portraits of the people who inhabit that world but so sensitively and exquisitely rendered that they are seductive and vacant in their beauty. In all of her works, Montvila juxtaposes images, laying one on top of another, and leaving the viewer to peel away the painting's meaning. Lipstick is an indictment of the way women are portrayed in advertising's ersatz utopia. The next painting in the series, Wingtips, was the masculine version. Montvila then began to comment on social issues such as the seamy nightlight of the metropolis in Heavy Duty or lust in My Passion. Although these situations perforce involve human interaction, Montvila's figures do not connect. Karen Chambers, 2002

Ann Weiner
Calling up childhood, memory, loss, and existence, Ann Weiner produces imagery and sculpture that are suggestively dark, and compelling. Her use of black is so pervasive as to make white, and the light invokes, a respite and a radiance. Here is an artist who is stimulated by somberness, and in exploring it, finds visual richness. She draws upon the muted atmospheres associated with late nineteenth century Tonalism and the dramatic allegories of Symbolism. Aspects of these historical motifs become newly expressive in works made with advanced technologies of imaging and the juxtaposition of diverse materials and formats. Suzaan Boettger, New York, 2004

Clay as the Human Condition
Regional ceramics exhibition curated by Alisa Holen
Artists include Daniel Cox, Conifer Smith and Reagan Yoder
Friday, October 19 – Saturday, November 17, 2007

Day of the Dead Installation in Hexagon
Friday, October 19 – Saturday, November 3, 2007
Opening Reception for both (free and open to the public)
Friday, October 19, 6:30 – 8:30pm

GALLERY CLOSED FALL BREAK, OCTOBER 22-23

BFA Independent Study Showcase in Hexagon
Friday, November 9 – Saturday, November 17, 2007

Brett Reif: Fried Times
Friday, November 30, 2007 – Friday, January 18, 2008
Opening Reception (free and open to the public)
Friday, November 30, 6:30 – 8:30pm

Brett Reif
Non-traditional media, sculpture and installation are major areas of interest for Brett Reif. He typically works in automobile grease, Post-It notes, test tubes and plastic wrap. Recent work involves deep-frying objects and materials (from Barbie Dolls to phone books) to create installations. Originally from New Orleans, Reif received his B.F.A. degree from Loyola University in New Orleans and his M.F.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His work has been exhibited at Spaces Gallery, Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo Artist Studio, North Carolina Museum of Art, Ackland Museum in North Carolina and the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center in Kansas City, MO.

GALLERY CLOSED SEMESTER BREAK, DECEMBER 22 – JANUARY 14

SPRING SEMESTER 2008

Brett Reif: Fried Times continues through Friday, January 18, 2008

Spring 2008 UNO Art Student Exhibition with Hexagon Installation Program
Juror: Brett Reif
Friday, January 25 – Saturday, February 16, 2008
Opening Reception (free and open to the public)
Friday, January 25, 6:30 – 8:30pm

Printed in Omaha: A Retrospective Exhibition of the UNO Print Workshop
Friday, February 29 – Saturday, April 5, 2008
Opening Reception (free and open to the public)
Friday, February 29, 6:30 – 8:30pm

GALLERY CLOSED SPRING BREAK, MARCH 15 – MARCH 24

UNO Print Workshop
Established in 1976, the UNO Print Workshop brings artists to the University of Nebraska Omaha for a residency to collaborate and produce an edition of multiples or a series of monotypes/monoprints. The initial focus of the workshop was the production of prints by printmakers, but as the print series developed, the program was expanded to include a wider variety of artists who use mediums that range from painting to conceptual art. Today the workshop has published prints with artists from every region of the United States and several other countries. Artists include Vito Acconci, Edith Altman, Kent Bellows, Warrington Colescott, John Himmelfarb, Jun Kaneko, Karen Kunc, Lloyd Menard, Ed Paschke, Philip Pearlstein, Linda Plotkin, Roger Shimomura and Art Werger. The collection represents one of the most significant bodies of work produced in Nebraska. It includes artists from very diverse backgrounds and aesthetic philosophies, and the range of mediums and methods of production are as diverse as the artists themselves.

Spring 2008 BFA THESIS EXHIBITION
Friday, April 11 – Friday, May 2, 2008
Opening Reception (free and open to the public)
Friday, April 11, 6:30 – 8:30pm

 

SUMMER 2008

Rebecca Keller and Lanny de Vuono
July 2008 – August 2008
Closing Reception (free and open to the public)
Friday, August 29, 6:30 – 8:30pm