The Agency of Art The Agency April 12 – May 12, 2018 University Art Gallery Mandeville Art Center UC San Diego The Agency of Art VA 50 The Agency of Art Professors Emeriti Helen Mayer and Newton Harrison Visual Arts Alumni: Sadie Barnette Roman de Salvo Rob Duarte Katie Herzog Nina Karavasiles Jean Lowe Virginia Maksymowicz Heather Gwen Martin Roy McMakin Jessie Mockrin Owen Mundy Tim Nohe Sheryl Oring Tim Schwartz Igor Vamos Nina Waisman Ruth Wallen Allison Wiese Introduction In Spring 2018, Visual Arts @ 50, (b. 1932). Their award-winning Jean Lowe, Heather Gwen Martin, the two-year series of exhibitions collaboration began at UC San Diego San Diego. Peninsula Europe is an - in 1969-70, when Newton Harri- in-depthnot previously analysis been of theexhibited fresh water in lenged the expectations of painting of the founding of the Visual Arts son was an assistant professor and system of Europe, which proposes inand numerous Jessie Mockrin ways. Theirhave all work chal Department,marking the fiftiethturns its anniversary focus from founding member of the Visual transforming the highlands stretch- the past to the future. The Agency Arts Department and Helen Mayer of Art highlights the role of Visual Harrison was the Director of Educa- the Pyrenees, across the Central onemploys the politics the traditions of identity, of figurativepower tional Programs at UC Extension. It Massíf,ing from to Portugal the Carpathians and Spain, and over be- structures,and abstract and painting knowledge to reflect econo - decades who are shaping the way was then, and here, that they made artArts engages alumni withfrom social the past practice, several the the historic decision to form an - artistic partnership, which included yond into a vast forest which would andmies a through unique synthesisclever appropriation, of fashion ogy. British social anthropologist sharing a professorial appoint- serve as a buffer against drought pasthumor, and subversion present. of historic styles, environment, science, and technol ment and adopting the principle asand an global introduction warming. to Thisthe work visionary of the In a series of what she calls objects are not a part of language ... that they would do no work that youngerproject from artists the who 2000-17 graduated will serve from “one-hour computers,” Herzog Alfred Gell held that “visual art examines relations between the language” and thus should not be end, they began to collaborate not years or so, whose work in painting, understanding of self, information treatednor do they simply constitute as illustrations an alternative or justdid notwith benefit each other ecosystems. but also To with this sculpture,our program architecture, in the last twentyphotogra five- authority, and hierarchies in which UC faculty experts in a wide range information is accessed and dissem- they are tangible indices of social of disciplines: biology, ecology, inated. Mockrin in turn explores interactionsvisual texts. Insteadthat act heas arguedsocial agents. that engineering, history, architecture, reframephy, performance, and re-imagine video, the and critical new - media proposes inventive ways to of exhibitions, The Agency of the Art art. The Harrisons’ commitment the fluidity of gender and identi spotlightsTo conclude how the the anniversary Visual Arts series De- tourban collaboration, planning, socialto bettering activism, the and worldproblems and of our the interactions environment with and it anty throughunsettling clever synthesis appropriation, of past and partment has always been commit- world through art, and to engaging andsociety one today another. and so to improve the presentsubversion fashion. of historic Lowe styles,is known and for ted to using art as a social agent to with science, social policy, and the Taking the Harrisons’ work as paintings and installations repre- a point of departure, The Agency senting what she calls the “Con- The idea that art can change the much art today, and it might also of Art explores how recent leading worldreshape for the the world better in – which and not we just live. beenvironment considered is a foundational precursor to forthe work showcasing commentary on by enriching the life and spirit of contemporaryceptual-Decorative society tradition,” in an expres her - alumni variously contributed to the - emerging artistic fields of socially artgrowing as complex field of objects, Conceptual UC San Art Diego and paintings on display deal obliquely eredthose by for science, love it butengineering, by proposing and engagedThe Agency practice, of Art Environmental places repre- Speculative Design. Defining visual - withsive yet our cerebral current way.social The and colorful political socialnew solutions critique for– was/is problems a major uncov Art, and Speculative Design. ly our understanding of traditional theme of the work of Visual Arts artartists practices have broadened while insisting tremendous that faculty Helen Mayer Harrison (b. fromsentative a major works work by byeighteen the Harri alumni- moment, using a visual language of 1927-2018) and Newton Harrison sons,in juxtaposition Peninsula Europe with five, which panels has entrap the spectator. Katie Herzog, advertising and promotion that is visual art can fascinate, compel, and both provoking and entertaining. Martin, on the other hand, defies traditional rules of composition by pretation that aim to raise aware- - - ese reminds us that language can details, his furniture bridges the gap ernmental organizations often act of honey-bees preservation. Wi betweenand surprising art and and design. subversive shifts,experimenting and delicate with geometric the vast swells lines inness dehumanizing how corporations ways towardand gov the scale signs and billboards skillfully Others like Owen Mundy, Tim of flowing space, dramatic scale public. On the other hand, Wallen both unite and divide; her large- Nohe, Tim Schwartz, and Nina Wa- employs photographic imagery, text, mundane wisdom. In their own that dissolve into a biomorphic and web-based projects to address ways,challenge Maksymowicz, conventional McMakin, norms and and of art made with technical expertise asworld her ofstylistic curves. precursor, Drawing Martinon Pattern complex issues of climate change - andisman imagination have furthered of a high the conceptorder, art and Decoration for a visual style and- by appealing to the heart and the nary and the familiar in their works, that explores the intrinsic mecha- es into changeable spaces through mind through potent metaphors and withDe Salvo the anatomicalwittingly combine and the the archi ordi- chromaticstrategically choreography transforms flat that surfac affects tectural merging in an infusion of focusnisms of of both visual designer cognition and with program subtle- color, and space. compelling narratives. Supported by poetry. Maksymowicz’s work often merpsychological Mundy and insight. of the The technologist collective theExploiting way the viewer the paradigm perceives that form, extensive research, carefulListen listening, to the humor, surprise, intrigue, and visual Schwartz is on public space, infor- Treesand close installation observation celebrates of the thelocal burning social issues though narra- beautyenvironment, of California’s Wallen’s forest land- utilizes the female figureHistory to reveal of Art ofposits Sadie art Barnette, objects asIgor effective Vamos, (and and series, a feminine torso in multiple internetmation privacy, art, interface and big design, data, asgame Ruthaffective) Wallen social address agents, root the causes works that inform community planning papertive or casts metaphor. with icons Her of art history design,explored and through physical data computing. visualization, - scapes and helps shape the values While Mundy mines internet data opportunities for dialogue. is a humorous attempt at feminist to create web-based art proj- urgesof epic-in-scale younger generations social and environ to work andArtists development, such as Rob while Duarte, providing Nina appropriationpainted on each of individual male-attributed surface, mental issues. Their art collectively- Schwartz often uses retired gadgets gent problems related to the issues further exploit fundamental archi- toects, turn custom playful software, data mashups and video, into ofproactively human rights, towards social solving justice, emer and Karavasiles, Virginia Maksymowicz, tecturalimages. McMakinand sculptural and De concepts Salvo each sculptures. Engaging wide-ranging design,Roy McMakin, installation, Roman sculpture, de Salvo, and and (and conceits) to welcome tectonic electronic media, Nohe, by contrast, Anthropocene Age. Sadie Barnette’s Allison Wiese have also employed interpretations and raise construc- examines sustainability and place workthe environmental engages painting impact and of specu the - social hierarchies, hidden politi- tion to an art form by melding the through intermedia works and callanguage ideologies, to reveal and andtechnological challenge physical and the conceptual. Casting history as political by presenting determinism. While Duarte remains dining modules that mimic both productions. Nohe’s work with lative fiction to assert her personal a skeptic, pointing out that technol- laptop computers and TV dinners, musicsound scores isfor echoed dance inand Waisman’s video ogy creates more problems than it interest in sound and performance, arepressive member ofdocuments the Black fromPanther the - Partyactual in FBI 1968, surveillance in a hybrid of heraesthet