UAG / ROOM Gallery

UCI Professor Daniel Martinez featured in the New York Time's "The 25 Most Influential Works of American Protest Art Since World War II".

FALL QUARTER Post-Graduate MFA Thesis Exhibitions, Class of 2020 October 1st to December 19th, 2020 Contemporary Arts Center Gallery, University Art Gallery, Room Gallery Online only... Works by David Chen, Caleb Engstrom, Christine Dianne Guiyangco, Christine Hudson, Jackson Hunt, Ethan Philip McGinnis, Morgan Cuppet-Michelsen, Gabby Miller, Joaquin Palting, Ellen Schafer, Jean Shon, and Chris Warr. During spring quarter 2020, the MFA thesis exhibitions for the cohort of 2020 were set to open on April 4th at the University Art Galleries but were abruptly cancelled due to the pandemic. As a result, the galleries have since been closed to the public. As restrictions begin to loosen, we are carefully preparing to mount exhibitions once again. During the fall quarter, the UAG will present the Post-Graduate MFA Thesis Exhibitions, Class of 2020. Due to safety measures and regulations, the UAG will continue to operate remotely until further notice. Although the galleries will continue to remain temporarily closed to the public, we plan to share these exhibitions with you virtually. We look forward to continuing in-person exhibitions once it is safe to do so. Follow us on our Instagram (@uag_ucirvine) account and on the UAG website (uag.arts.uci.edu) for updates and news.

" UCI’s Visual Art Department was particularly inventive, devising student-on-student interviews for its Undergraduate Honors Thesis Exhibition. Allyson Unzicker, associate director and curator of the University Art Galleries, explains, During the interviews, students discussed their thesis projects, their processes and concepts and how the pandemic affected their work. Kevin Appel, professor and chair of the Department of Art and director of the University Art Galleries, says, I think this idea [the interview model] will stay with us as it has the potential of increasing both exposure and art discourse for our students. The Gallery’s Instagram account describes its mission and activities. "

UAG Archive Throwback: Ed Moses (1926-2018) is known for his abstract paintings and being part of the "Cool School" group of artists that shaped and influenced the early LA art scene. Moses received the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1980 and his work has been collected by many major institutions including LACMA, The National Museum of American Art, MOCA, and MOMA. Moses was a lecturer at UCI from 1969 to 1973. In 2014, the UAG presented a retrospective of Moses' work titled Cross-...Section as a part of the UAG’s Major Works of Art Series, exhibiting works made between 1960 to 2014. The exhibit was featured in all 3 galleries (University Art Gallery, Room Gallery, and the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) Gallery) from October 11th, 2014 - December 13th, 2014. The exhibition included a 116-page color publication. Curated by Juli Carson and Kevin Appel. #UAGarchive #UAGconnected #contemporarypainting #contemporaryart #EdMoses #LAart #Californiaart #Americanart #abstractpainting #CTSAarts #UCIarts #ucirvine See more

UAG Archive Throwback: In 1993, the artist Charles Gaines (b. 1944) curated the show "The Theater of Refusal: Black Art and Mainstream Criticism" in the Fine Arts Gallery, now known as the University Art Gallery. Through the exhibition and publication essay, Gaines sought to reveal the strategies of marginalization used in critical writing about a group of contemporary Black artists and to propose an alternative to the dialectical framework of mainstream Othering. The exhibit...ion featured the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Renee Green, David Hammons, Ben Patterson, Adrian Piper, Sandra Rowe, Gary Simmons, Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems, Pat Ward Williams, and Fred Wilson. The exhibition also included a roundtable event organized by Catherine Lord and Mara Lonner. The roundtable included Lord, Gaines, Hilton Als, Thelma Golden, Lizzetta Lefalle-Collins, and several artists in the exhibition. @st__francis francis @garysimmonsstudio @lornasimpson @carriemaeweems In a recent panel discussion through @printedmatterinc, Gaines and colleagues discussed the theoretical framework of the exhibition and how it is viewed so many years later. He spoke to the fact that the issues of mainstream marginalization that influenced his curation of the show are still present within identity politics today. David Hammons, African American Flag" 1989; Adrian Piper Free #2" 1989; Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Two Faces)" 1982; Carrie Mae Weems, Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil 1990, Lorna Simpson, Lower Regions 1992 #UAGarchive #UAGConnected #CharlesGaines #Basquiat #ReneeGreen #DavidHammons #BenPatterson #AdrianPiper #SandraRowe #GarySimmons #LornaSimpson #CarrieMaeWeems #PatWardWilliams #FredWilson #blackartists #UCIArts

UAG Archive Throwback: Challenging the notion of the picturesque, the exhibition The Symbolic Landscape: Pictures Beyond the Picturesque, curated by Juli Carson, included works by UCI faculty and international artists: Kevin Appel, Kelly Barrie, Zanny Begg & Oliver Ressler, Civil Wars: Queer Theory and the Arenas of Activism Collective, Miles Coolidge, Kate Ericson/Mel Ziegler, Hassan Khan, Mary Kelly, Monica Majoli, Dorit Margreiter, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Florian Pumho...sl, Connie Samaras, and Bruce Yonemoto. The exhibition took place in the CAC Gallery and UAG (Oct 03, 2013 - Nov 27, 2013). - The exhibit’s theme was derived from Rosalind Krauss’s critique of pictorial form, made in her 1984 essay, The Originality of the Avant-Garde. Krauss claims that the singularity of the picturesque as applied to the conventional landscape limits the subject’s analysis and depth. In response to this paradox, the artworks in The Symbolic Landscape depicted a diverse range of conceptual and aesthetic strategies that continue this critique of the picturesque. In the exhibition brochure, Carson writes: The Symbolic Landscape features a number of images that literally resemble a landscape, while others embrace figurative or textual strategies. All the exhibited artworks, however, conceptually defy their morphological resemblance to such tried and true genres. This begs the broader question of just what a landscape is for the subject, especially when psychological notions of that genre are entertained. - Monica Majoli, Black Mirror (Amy), oil on panel, 2011; Bruce Yonemoto, The End of the World at the Edge of the Earth, 2 Channel HD Digital Installation, 2013; Mary Kelly, My James, compressed lint, 2008; Connie Samaras, Angelic States - Event Sequence / NY Financial District, WTC November 2001, digital c-print from film, 2001. - @mmajoli3 @kevinappel @oliver.ressler @zannybegg @conniesamaras @byonemoto #MilesCoolidge #KateEricson #MelZiegler #HassanKhan #MaryKelly #KellyBarrie #DoritMargreiter #DanielJosephMartinez #FlorianPumhosl See more

Please support Beirut arts relief by purchasing a ticket to this amazing online screening of short Lebanese films "Reeling Beirut: Short Films from the City". All proceeds will go to a coalition of theater groups in Beirut (Theater Relief Group in Lebanon - ) that were deeply affected by the latest Beirut explosion and who are working on several cultural initiatives on the ground. Purchase a ticket through the link below and share. A link to the event can also be found on our Facebook page. The event is live through September 7th. Artists include Nasri Sayegh, Rawane Nassif, Sarah Francis, Raed Rafei, Rania Rafei & Jinane Dagher. https://www.facebook.com/events/309416613811695/

Please support emergency arts fundraising for Beirut by purchasing a ticket to this amazing online screening of short Lebanese films "Reeling Beirut: Short Films from the City," (August 28th-September 7th). All proceeds will go to a coalition of theater groups in Beirut (Theater Relief Group in Lebanon - ) that were deeply affected by the latest Beirut explosion and who are working on several cultural initiatives on the ground. Purchase a ticket through the event post below and share. The event is live through September 7th. Artists include Nasri Sayegh, Rawane Nassif, Sarah Francis, Raed Rafei, Rania Rafei & Jinane Dagher.

UAG Archive Throwback: In 1994-5, former UAG director Catherine Lord curated Pervert in the Fine Arts Gallery, now known as the University Art Gallery. As director, Lord’s vision was to bring attention to identity politics while increasing faculty and artist representation committed to queer politics and questions around race and ethnicity, most notably displayed in her provocative exhibition featuring the work of Laura Aguilar, Judie Bamber, Robert Blanchon, Patricia Croni...n, Nicole Eisenman, Martha Fleming, Lyne Lapointe, Lyle Ashton Harris, Rinaldo Hopf, Doug Ischar, Deborah Kass, Glenn Ligon, Catherine Opie, Paul Pfeiffer, Eugene Rodriguez, Connie Samaras, and Mille Wilson. - Lord describes the word "pervert" as inspiration for this exhibit in a range of contexts in order to make a point about the word: its ability to be reversed and define a variety of audiences. Blatantly, she embraces pervert as a derogatory word that was once applied to heterosexuals, appropriating it to simultaneously connect with the standard form of companionship and contrast with the application of it to homosexuals. - Contemplatively, Lord approaches this exhibit with much forethought, wanting to organize something that would reflect the explosion of gay and lesbian cultural production in the ‘80s. - Catherine Opie, Self-Portrait/Pervert, 1994; Nicole Eisenman, Daisy Chain, 1994; Laura Aguilar, Cheri and Sue, 1994; Lyle Ashton Harris (in collaboration with Thomas Allen Harris), Brotherhood, Crossroad, Etcetera II, 1994; Robert Blanchon, Untitled (Alexander Hamilton, Boston),1995; Deborah Kass, Altered Image II, 1994-95. - #UAGArchive #queerart #UCIArts #LauraAguilar #RobertBlanchon #NicoleEisenman #LyleAshtonHarris #DeborahKass #CatherineOpie See more

UAG Archive Throwback: "On This Island" was a solo exhibition featuring two films by the London-based Palestinian artist Rosalind Nashashibi presented in the CAC Gallery (October 1, 2016-December 10, 2016). The exhibit featured two films created a decade apart, joined together for the first time, to challenge perceptions that form around closed communities and the parallel realities that form within them. "Eyeballing" (2005) explores surveillance and observation in New York C...ity, and "Electrical Gaza (2015) provides a unique view of everyday life in the contentious Gaza Strip. - "Eyeballing" (2005) cuts between two landscapes: inanimate objects that appear to have faces, aka pareidolia, and voyeuristic footage of the entrance to a police station where officers exchange sideways glances with the viewer. In the exhibition brochure, Unzicker writes: "The binary between the two images provides a gap for the viewer to interpret their relationships to one another, as the images alone deny any narrative meaning. The gaze itself is invisible and unstable, always moving outside the plane of perception, sliding between signifiers the artist, the officers and the eyes of the city. The cops both see and are seen as they move between public and private space, the doors serving as a portal between them." - Electrical Gaza (2015) depicts streets, alleyways, inside homes and crowds in Gaza. Interspersed with this footage are surreal animated shots of these same everyday scenes. The artist allows the viewer to see everyday moments in the life of Gaza, one that does not merely depict the violence that we so often see in Western news and media. These sudden, uncanny animated scenes construct a fictitious rendering of Gaza, one that depicts the contradictions of daily life as mediated through a screen of constant surveillance. Restricted access to the outside world is controlled by powers unseen, encapsulating Gazans like an invisible spell, hovering above and around its borders. - #UAGArchive #UAGConnected #contemporaryfilm #NYC #Gaza #palestinianart #palestinianartist #RosalindNashashibi @rosishibi See more

UAG Archive Throwback: Kerry Tribe’s H.M. (2009) is a two-channel 16mm film projection that was presented in the CAC Gallery (Jan. 09, 2016 - Mar. 12, 2016). - Patient H.M., as he is anonymously referred to, was a famous amnesiac who underwent experimental brain surgery to treat his epilepsy when he was 27 years old in 1953. After the surgery, although cured of his epilepsy he could no longer form any new permanent memories. Thereafter, his short-term memory was limited t...o 20 seconds. He passed away in 2008, having been an integral case in the scientific research to understanding human memory. - Tribe’s H.M. is a narrative film of this case study using found footage, animation, and her own created documentation to portray his life before and after the procedure. Through the use of two adjacent and synchronized projectors, the film is spooled from one projector into the other with a 20-second delay between them; thus the viewer encounters two side-by-side projections of different segments from the same film reel. This operation places the viewer into the experience of H.M.’s 20-second memory recall. The film was accompanied by letterpress prints. - In the exhibition brochure, the curator Juli Carson writes: Like H.M., we can extend our ability to think and remember things within this 20-second span if we concentrate very hard, but it is nearly impossible without a script or a storyboard to really know this on its own. Tribe’s installation literally (or procedurally) demonstrates H.M.’s condition at the same time as the narrator’s voiceover describes his story an allegory for the simultaneous operation of unconscious operations (working memory) and conscious derivation (long-term memory) that characterizes the involuted state of cognition. In addition to the exhibit, a roundtable discussion was held with Carson, Tribe, and Dr. James McGaugh who founded UCI’s Department of Neurobiology and Behavior and the first Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. - #UAGConnected #UAGArchive #contemporaryart #KerryTribe #contemporaryfilm #UCIarts #UCIbio #UCIartsanywhere #contemporary #americanart @ktstudio See more

The Undergraduate Honors in Art Cohort publication titled: "Land Of The Not Land Of The Home Of The Not Home Of" is now available on our website. The publication features the artwork and writings of Joanna Koo, Kelsey Kuykendall, Gabriella Salinardo, Lily Welling, and Ryan Wang.