April 29 - June 10, 2007
Juror: Aimee Chang, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Orange County Museum of Art (MOCA)
Public Reception: Sunday, April 29, 2 pm - 4 pm
On Site at the Gate 2007 is the Center's annual all-media, juried exhibition, and will feature seventeen artists hand picked from a field of applicants by juror Aimee Chang, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Orange County Museum of Art.
For 2007, On Site at the Gate features the following artists:
Peter Belkin, YaYa Chou, Michelle Deniaud, Julie Easton, Tara Fadenrecht, McLean Fahnestock, Asad Faulwell, Garrison Frost, So Jung Kwon, Roger Marshutz, Tom Miller, Lowell Nickel, Jeffrey Allen Price, Jessica Schieffer, Denise Scott, Paulina Swietliczko, Valerie Wilcox
The Center received a record number of entries for this year's exhibition, and the artists taking part this year are an exceptional bunch. Using materials as diverse as paint, video, old artillery shells, wine glasses, Gummi Bears and those little stickers that come on fruit, the seventeen artists of On Site at the Gate 2007 will present a series of surprising and beautiful works.
The Artists
Peter Belkin explores scientific theories through the medium of paint. Cosmic maps mirror cell structures as the intricate fibers of the universe become revealed.
YaYa Chou's recent works are a series of sculptures made of children's snacks. She is interested in exploring the relationship between food consumption and class.
Michelle Deniaud is captivated by the individual body language of those enigmatic shrouded beings called trees.
Julie Easton's work addresses the notion of the collective self rather than the personal self and is an ode to the collective self in an age of incertitude.
Tara Fadenrecht's current work is inspired by her observation of nature's architecture.
McLean Fahnestock uses recognizable objects that carry preconceived notions of physical properties, limitations, and function to illustrate relationships. These objects are charged by their direct correlation to humans in usefulness or affection.
Asad Faulwell references the duality of his Middle Eastern and American heritage in his abstract paintings.
Garrison Frost finds beautiful things in the realms of the ordinary, and tries to capture that emotion.
So Jung Kwon's work deals with the cultural and linguistic discrepancy between culture in Korea and America. As a performance artist, sculptor, multi-media artist and global citizen, she uses various symbolic props and the playful banality of everyday objects to investigate how cultural differences affect people's thought and behaviour.
Roger Marshutz makes art about the homeless to give them a voice. Viewers can listen to the stories of the homeless through his work.
Tom Miller's paintings explore the magical, shape-shifting qualities of the clown.
Lowell Nickel is a devoted beachcomber and roadside treasure hunter. His photographic compositions that are digital collages from appropriated NASA orbit shots and chosen photos that he has taken of found subject matter from the beaches and roadside.
Jeffrey Allen Price's drawings are rendered from life, and include the actual supermarket stickers that are attached to fruit as computer codes. Including the stickers as collage elements creates a humorous verisimilitude to the works.
Jessica Schieffer's paintings reinterpret imagery within a landscape through methods of deconstruction and recreation. These methods focus on the elements within the painting and how they contribute as separate components while unifying the total image.
Denise Scott's sculptures place familiar and symbolic objects in unfamilar contexts.
Paulina Swietliczko tends to paint the people around her. Her models animate her pictures; their personalities provide the narrative spark transcending the banalities of everyday life.
Valerie Wilcox's inspiration comes from different sources, including movement to music and natures' colors that surround her and fill her up. She's drawn to the way the paint moves under the brush, the movement of the hand, which is in turn stimulated by the energy in the body. The way colors interrelate and then become one and how one gesture blends into another are explored directly on the canvas.
Juror Aimee Chang
Aimee Chang is Curator of Contemporary Art at the Orange County Museum of Art. Prior to joining OCMA she worked at the Hammer Museum where she co-organized the award winning exhibition Thing: New Sculpture from Los Angeles. Before that she served as curatorial fellow at the Walker Art Center. She received her B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and holds an M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.