Image © Kurt Hippauf

Official Press Release:

ABOUT FACE: An Exploration of Identity and the Human Experience

ABOUT FACE is juried and curated by SSCA Exhibitions Coordinator and artist J. M. Culver.

When: SEPTEMBER 11 – OCTOBER 10

Where: SSCA GALLERY

Opening Reception
Saturday, September 11, 7-10pm

Live music by DEDMONDSON

The human face is so central to how we view other people, whether meeting someone for the first
time or scrutinizing an old friend’s reaction, that imagining a world without addressing the familiar
set of features on the front of our head seems unthinkable.  The mood, confidence, innocence,
beauty, honesty, brutality and sadness of a person are so often indicated (sometimes falsely) by
their face.  Even as social media evolves to replace encounters with clicks, replication and broad-
cast of faces remains essential to the way we want to connect with others.

It is with these considerations in mind that ABOUT FACE at SSCA Gallery features artists employ-
ing traditional and experimental means in communicating their own unique expressions of the
human face, including painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture and mixed media.

Highlights of the exhibition include Megan Frauenhoffer’s darkly beautiful mixed media prints, which suggest transformational narratives and move with skillful, selective illustrative detail. Weaving myth and memory, and exuding a curious emotional tension, her work invites a close look here.

Cult Status Gallery owner and painter Erin Sayers showcases work from her distinctly graphic series of pop icons; and the surreal, abstracted human archetypes of John Vasiliou round out this assembly of talented visual artists.

Artists Involved:

Nate Courteau
J.M. Culver
Megan Frauenhoffer
Louisa Greenstock
Kurt Hippauf
Nathan Lewis
Erin Sayer
John Vasiliou
Amzie Wendt

Having a website with a site tracker, I keep record of what pages, posts and images people visit. Despite the push and pull graduate school gave me, the two pieces that continually receive the most attention are The Wound and The Swarm:

vs.

I’m not sure how I feel in response. They’re my first pieces done at MCAD and yet I was more or less bashed for the illustrative qualities of the work. But this is the work that has been the most successful outside of school for reasons other than the “Lowbrow” or “Juxtapoz” connection (always a slight cringe now whenever I hear that comparison). One the prevalent comments I receive about the newer work is that, while the new series is great, people have a hard time “remembering” the art, or perhaps specifics about the work fail to stick on the forefront of their minds. This feedback is somewhat frustrating and not easily resolved.

Revisiting the subject of the summer job, one of my former critique teachers visited and inquired about my post-graduation life. When I told her of my lack of motivation on art-making, she replied that it’s my “recovery period.” It’s normal… I suppose. I remembered this recovery period previously mentioned by other MCAD MFA alumni and younger art professors. The recovery period estimates taking half to equal the time spent in school. If the theory is right, I hit back into my studio stride within the 1-2 year mark. That’s reasonable…if it’s a guarantee… but I get anxious, fearing that time’s passing creates more difficulty for the eventual return to the studio.

I’ve started to map out plans for research and lists of what I want to incorporate visually. Sometimes when I feel stuck in my studio, I backtrack my steps in order to explore alternative routes. I contemplate previous prints/drawings in relation to current studies.

What elements in The Wound/Swarm need to be reexamined in future works? What technical/narrative aspects succeeded in those images that I neglected to include in recent series?  I sense that the new series needs to merge the strengths of the earlier works with current strengths in an attempt to pare the re-occuring weaknesses. Time to reflect and research for future visual study.

“Two Sisters”

Not an official title, but maybe.

I’ve been fixing scans of silkscreen mylars on photoshop. I’m hoping to make new stencils for printing by manipulating some of my pre-existing drawings. Essentially I’ve been drawing characters and then compiling them together onto a print to create a narrative. It’s more intuitive and less planned/structured than I’m used to, but I think it’ll work towards the content of personal narratives and fairy tale/psychology. This character was suppose to be a kind of Red Riding Hood with her hair becoming the hood, but she’s kind of coming off more like Cassandra in Greek mythology. Anyway, her pose slightly mimics the main figure in Edvard Munch’s The Scream, so I get to fit a little homage into the thesis show.

I think I’m going to start adding color again to the new pieces. Somehow. I think I might send one of these for a show in March. I’m going to try and figure out a cheaper way to frame the work. Maybe put it on mounted board or something? I don’t know. I’m going to revert to modest sized pieces after school is over, that’s for sure. Waaaaay easier to send to shows.

“Such fairy tales begin with an original lack of differentiation between two siblings: they live together and feel alike; in short, they are inseparable. But then, at a certain moment in growing up, one of them begins an animal existence, and the other does not.” –Bettelheim

Combination of silkscreen/drawing monoprints (or mixed media depending how you want to define it). Completed the final semester.

Graduate school 2nd year:

Artwork completed during my second year of graduate school.

Graduate school 1st year:

Artwork completed during my first year at graduate school. Media range from relief print, etching, silkscreen, and mixed media drawing/prints.

All work © Megan Frauenhoffer