January 30 – February 23, 2007

PICTORIAL ARTS: FACULTY EXHIBITION


Natalie and James Thomson Art Gallery,School of Art & Design, San Jose State University

This exhibition will be a special opportunity to view recent works by current faculty in the Pictorial Arts area within the School of Art and Design. Showcasing a divergent group of artist who share an interest in working with pictorial arts media and a devotion to teaching, this exhibition is both provocative and stimulating, revealing a variety of conceptual emphases, aesthetics, and creative solutions to formalistic issues of composition, contour, and line. Each of these artists indiviually has received noteworthy acclaim for their works. As a group, they combine significant success in regional, national, and international exhibitions and museum collections, as well as numerous grants and awards, in their broad-ranging displays of media, style and technique

The artists included in this years Pictorial Arts Faculty Exhibition are:

Mel Adamson • Marlene Angeja • Gale Antokal • Theta Belcher • Christine Canepa • Robert Chiarito • Donald Feasel • Erik Friedman Bernda Jamrus • Leroy Parket • Gina Pearlin • Lynn Powers Lucy Sargeant • Ema Sintamarian • Patrick Surgalski

We are delighted to have this opportunity to feature their thoughtfulness, creativity, and vision in this speical display.

March 06 – April 06, 2007

ROBERT HIRSCH
WORLD IN A JAR: WAR AND TRAUMA


Robert Hirsch- World in a Jar: War and Trauma Installation,Big Orbit Gallery,Buffalo,NY

This installation is a collection of 850 black and white photographs, each sealed in its own clear 32-ounce glass jar, placed upon an undulating constructed pedestal in the Gallery. The photographs include a vast array of appropriated historical images involving death,evil ,tragedy,trauma, and media that have been recast to expose a litany of horrors from the past four hundred years. Larger two-dimensional wall workds will complement the installation.

Talking contemporary issues of originality and reproduction as well as the political content inherent in their subjects, Rober Hirsch sees himself as a transformer, engaging in a historical dialogue with the "ghosts" of other times, places, and makers as he distills and/or subverts a subject into what he considers to be its core visual values. "Fresh ideas come from pre-contextualizing the past,"he has written; "originality is not the prime factor, effectiveness is"

He adds: "My intention is to evoke an inner state of consciousness and grapple with a subject beyond its external structure. This approach can be likened to the Japanese concept of shashin, which says that something is only true when it integrates the outer appearance with the inner makeup of a subject."

Robert Hirsch is a photographer,writer, and the Director of Light Research, headquartered in Buffalo, New York. He is a former Associate Editor for Photovision and Digital Camera, and the contributor to numerous other photography magazines and journals. He has written several books, including many in which he has interviewed some of the most eminent photographers of our time.

In conjuction with the exhibition, Hirsch will provide an illustrated lecture on Tuesday, March 6,2007 from 5-6 pm in Art #133,prior to the opening reception for the exhibition. The public is invited to attend.

For additional information concerning the gallery program and visiting artist lecture series, contact:

Jo Farb Hernandez, Director
Natalie and James Thompson Galleries
San Jose State University
School of Art and Design,
ART 129A
San Jose, CA 95192-0089
telephone: (408) 924 - 4328
fax: (408) 924 - 4326