Robert Platt: “Prosfuge: Between Worlds of Appearance and Disappearance”
Work by Stamps Associate Professor Robert Platt is featured in the solo exhibition Prosfuge: Between Worlds of Appearance and Disappearance, on view in the School for Environment and Sustainability’s Ford Commons starting Wednesday, February 21.
The exhibit Prosfuge is a blend word referencing the notion of ‘Prospect-refuge theory’, a concept developed by English geographer Jay Appleton in his 1975 book, The Experience of Landscape. His theory suggests that spaces we find most acceptable to be in present us with great opportunity while simultaneously fulfilling the desire to retreat into a protected realm. In recent works, I have been exploring this notion through the lens of contemporary art practice that challenges traditional ways to view, appreciate and experience landscape in a culture of increasing virtuality and mediation. The work here is a selection from a recent 2017 solo exhibition in Changwon City, South Korea, titled Derelict Man in The Garden of Mirrors.
Robert Platt joined the UM Stamps School of Art & Design faculty in 2011. He holds a B.A from Nottingham Trent University of Art & Design, MA from the Royal College of Art, London UK, and a PhD from Kyoto City University of Arts, Japan. His research explores boundaries and interrelationships between nature and optics in a theme he calls ‘Huntorama’, his interpretation of the mediated landscape. He is interested in the frame through which we observe landscape and the tendency to project images and ideas onto nature as result of imported cultural constructs. He explores complex contradictions between aesthetic conventions in social relations to the natural world and ways in which technology informs, challenges and interacts with painting history and representation.
The gallery is located in the Dana Building first floor Ford Commons.
“Prosfuge: Between Worlds of Appearance and Disappearance”
An Exhibition by Robert Platt
Ford Commons, Dana Building
Exhibition Reception: Wednesday, February 21, 5 – 6 pm
The reception will feature a presentation by the artist.