Monthly Archives: April 2012

LACDA EXHIBIT RECEPTION 4.28.2012

Won First Prize LACDA Competition

________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.2012

First Place Winner

MEI XIAN QIU

Mei Xian Qiu’s title for her exhibit “Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom,” a series of photographs portraying a Chinese takeover of the United States, is a popular Western mistranslation of the Chinese poem “Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom, Let a Hundred Schools of Thought Contend.” Mao used this poem to proclaim a great society where arts, academia, and “a hundred schools of thought contend.” As a result, artists and academics came out of hiding and there was a brief flowering of culture at that time.

In Qiu’s photographs, hidden political dangers are suggested and must be addressed urgently, but are put aside momentarily, subsumed to the romance of what she calls “the beautiful idea.” The costumes she uses are discarded U.S. military uniforms and Chinese mock ups taken from a Beijing photography studio, specializing in outfits for foreign tourists to re-enact Cultural Revolution Propaganda imagery. This body of work engages the constitution of the future, specifically with respect to globalism, the identity of the self and self view, the social landscape, post-colonialism, and that of the larger national body politic.

Jurors:

Nancy Meyer, LACMA
Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, L.A. County Museum of Art

Rex Bruce, LACDA
Director and Senior Curator, L.A. Center for Digital Art

Kinsey Exhibit IN

______________________________________________________________________

Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze

April 13 – June 29, 2012
Man as Object presents works of art that examine the visibility of men and masculinity from female/feminist/transgender perspectives. By surveying the ways men are represented in contemporary art by women, this exhibition opens new dialogues regarding the myriad of ways women view men in today’s culture and society. It marks an important development in feminist art, which has long concentrated on images of women meant to challenge stereotypical notions of womanhood. A gallery filled with works depicting men, created by women, actively resists the prevalence of the male gaze in art. This traveling exhibition will be accompanied by a selection of artworks by female artists depicting men that is drawn from the permanent collection of The Kinsey Institute.

Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze was organized by Karen Gutfreund, Priscilla Otani, and Brenda Oelbaum for the Women’s Caucus for Art with Tanya Augsburg, Assistant Professor, San Francisco State University, as Juror. Prior to coming to Bloomington, it was shown at the SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco.

An opening reception will be held at The Kinsey Institute on Friday, April 13, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. This event is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be provided.

A panel discussion, A Dialog with the Artists on Man as Object: Reversing the Gaze, will be held prior to the show opening, April 13, from 4:00 to 5:00, in Morrison 007 (ground floor).

The Kinsey Institute
Morrison Hall, Room 302
1165 East Third Street
Bloomington, IN 47405
Ph: 812/855-7686; Fax: 812/855-8277
Email: kinsey@indiana.edu