2010 MFA Thesis Exhibition
March 12 – April 2, 2010
In-person Event
Slusser
Exhibition
Open to the public
Free of charge
Slusser Gallery
March 12 — April 2
Closing Reception: April 2, 6 – 9 pm
MFA Thesis Exhibition: Emir Alibasic, Ashley Lieber, Rui Mu, and Emily Orzech
Emir Alibasic
No Home Like Your Own
Statement: No Home Like Your Own is a journey through artwork that is socially and culturally oriented, metaphorical and autobiographical. The paintings are rich with narrative ambiguities and implications explaining the historical content of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The objects are juxtaposed in the uneasy landscape with the subject matter that represents social unrest. These landscapes are of a destroyed domesticity, new or familiar terrain, security or insecurity, stability or instability and diaspora. The aim is to evoke visual surprises and new discoveries and the idea of accessing the inaccessible.
Ashley Lieber
Psychosustainium
Statement: In this body of work, entitled the ‘Sustainability Series’, the fields of sculpture, ecology and psychology are combined to beg the question(s): What is sustainability? What does it look like? Where is it? And why is it so important? Three tiers of work are presented, each leading into the other: Circular System IIV (an exploratory hydroponic project that produces edibles), Silvio’s Vertical Hydroponic Wall Garden (a functioning wall garden installed at ‘Silvio’s Organic Pizza’), and Psychosustainium (installation on view in Slusser Gallery). It is my aspiration that this body of work challenges the viewer/participant to make the distinct connection between personal and ecological health.
Rui Mu
Immersive Telematic Filial Piety
Statement: I have been exploring the didactic potential that product design has to change behavior and improve interpersonal relationships. These works were created as a response to the decline of “filial piety” among Chinese immigrants in the US. “Filial piety” is a virtue that is highly honored and legally mandated in China, whereas in the US it is more of an individual choice. My pieces are meant to serve as cultural probes to reveal insights about immigrants’ lives rather than as commercial products.
Emily Orzech
Statement:Is it possible to capture in two dimensions the play of shadows, the rhythm of walking, and the sense of dislocation as we turn down a new path? In my current series of paintings I investigate ways to represent movement from the ground rather than from an aerial “map” view. My thesis takes as its source material the fragmented landscape of Detroit. Through repeated trips across the city I develop habitual paths and study how changing city forms interface with my shifting memory. I translate these memories of movement onto stretched paper using a combination of ink, graphite and screen print.