Robert Kushner, Big Blue Chador. Performed Extensively in Persian Line and Persian Line: Part II in the 1970s.
PROVOKING CHANGE
A Visual Arts Alumni Exhibition – UC San Diego
Curated by Tatiana Sizonenko, Ph.D., ‘13
October 12 – December 7, 2017
Reception, October 12, Thursday, 5:30 – 8:00 PM
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Thursday, 11:00 am – 4:00 PM,
Open Fridays by Appointment
Closed: November 28
From the Press Release :
Exploring a segment of the unique early history of the Visual Arts Department at UC San Diego, Provoking Change celebrates an extraordinary roster of artists who came to study in San Diego in the early 1970s through the 1990s. Diverse in their approaches, these artists shared a desire to foster change by challenging the narrowly defined avant-garde canon as manifested in the formalism of the 1960s.
Works on view in Provoking Change include painting, sculpture, photography, photomontage, film and video, and text-and-image installations. Standing at the forefront of the Pattern and Decoration Movement, the work of Kim MacConnel and Robert Kushner challenged the conventional idea of painting as a two-dimensional work on canvas. Executed as a kind of cloth hanging, both MacConnel’s Turkish Delight and Kushner’s Big Blue Chador [pictured above] question the long-standing pejorative dismissal of decoration.
Participating Artists: David Avalos, Becky Cohen, Joyce Cutler-Shaw, Brian Dick, Doris Bittar, Kip Fullbeck, Heidi Hardin, Robert Kushner, Fred Lonidier, Jean Lowe, Kim MacConnel, Susan Mogul, Allan Sekula, David Avalos/Louis Hock/Elizabeth Sisco (collective), David Avalos/Deborah Small (collective).
Read the full press release here.