MAINSITE Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the upcoming Exhibit of work by the University of Oklahoma School of Art and Art History 2009 Masters of Fine Art Thesis Candidates, painter Stephanie Jung, printmaker Michael Wilson, and new media artist Cong Zhang.

http://www.art.ou.edu

Exhibition Dates: April 10th-May 2nd, 2009
Opening Reception for the Artists: Friday, April 10th, 7-9pm
Opening Reception in conjunction with the Norman Arts Council 2nd Friday Circuit of Art. Visit http://www.normangalleryassociation.com

Michael Wilson's work is primarily printmaking, using monotypes and collage to create her emotive imagery, that centers around her personal views and experiences. The work Wilson will be installing in the MAINSITE is a performance work of sorts, consisting of her mobile print making studio- a 1985 gmc safari cargo van.
The Following is an artist statement from artist Michael Wilson:
rodeo
1 an exhibition or contest in which cowboys show their skill at riding broncos, roping calves, wrestling steers, etc.
• a similar exhibition or contest demonstrating other skills, such as motorcycle riding, canoeing or printmaking.
ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from Spanish, from rodear ‘go around,’ based on Latin rotare ‘rotate.’
Circus=Rodeo

Come see MFA candidate Michael Wilson perform dangerous acts of skill and judgement, transforming a wall of blank paper into ART before your very eyes! Equipped with only a few tools and her imagination, she will work her magic against time and the environment. As part of the environment, you may even participate in this daring test of skill. Will she succeed or will she fail? None will know until the bitter end!

Hybrida (Latin): the offspring of a wild boar and a tame sow

Stephanie Jung uses bold color and imagery derived from nature to create her large scale paintings. The work Jung will exhibit at the MAINSITE deals with duality but more specifically the conflict created between intellect and the chaos of the natural world.

The following is an artist statement from artist Stephanie Jung:

My work is about the duality of nature: the conflict of intellect versus embodiment. In our nuanced hearts, the wildness of embodiment remains, and my work describes the undertow that pulls at us every day, threatening to sunder our constructed selves.

I have long been interested in the hybridization of life and the splintering of identity. Rather than original beings, we are all hybrids, morphing as we borrow this technology, change careers or tastes, try out that sexual preference or dust off this cultural construct. Are we really just empty suits? As the saying goes, you can dress us up but you can’t take us anywhere.

In this series of works, I’ve appropriated Rococo and Enlightenment imagery to refer to the trappings and finery of a culture of acquisition. Descartes’ famous statement of the Age of Reason, “I think, therefore I am,” can be seen as the genesis of the Industrial and Technical revolutions, and a celebration of the separation of humanity from nature.

The male and female portions of the dual figures grasp attributes that help identify their intentions: the map, the compass, the arrows, the flowers. The elimination of the faces serves to subvert some of the intents of historical portraiture: the glorification of individual achievement, the portrayal of the triumph of humanity over other creatures, and over our own wildness. These paintings reassemble the component pieces, revealing our splintered, unrecognizable selves.

I think of this work as a series of Post-Modern “bodice rippers”, attending to our unsatisfied desires, sometimes magnifying the glamour of superficiality, and splicing in both the disturbing and the playful.

Even as we deny the sacrifice of our inner desires, our wildness breaks out in unexpected ways. It shatters our ideas of ourselves, the solidity of species, gender and sexuality, the prosaic posing of our bland and unlikely lifestyle. Only by embracing our disparate parts can we uncover our unbroken and authentic selves.

Dry clean only.

Cong Zhang uses new media and technology, while exploring themes of cultural diversity and hard-edged design. Cong Zhang was exposed to different art forms since her youth, including Chinese painting and calligraphy. She showed increasing interest in art, but also enjoyed problem-solving logic in science before college. She reinforced her interest by taking an intensive course in Academy of Arts & Design, where she was introduced to fundamental knowledge of visual communication. With a strong desire to become a graphic designer in the future, Zhang was admitted to the School of Art, Renmin University of China. As a native Chinese, who grew up during a dramatic transformation in China, exploring cultural diversities has always been her dream. In 2004, she was selected as an exchange student studying graphic design in the University of Oklahoma. She developed more design skills and open-mindedness during that year and more professionalism while working in Render Communication in Beijing afterwards. Zhang received her B.A. in Graphic Design from Renmin University of China, and she is currently pursuing her M.F.A. in Visual Communication in the University of Oklahoma.