Sense of Dwelling: Master of Fine Arts Candidates Exhibition II

Artists:
Chandler Damrill
Lexus Giles
Otari Oliva Buadze
Jeongmin Park (Gary R. Libby Focus Gallery)
Kenny Wilson

Dwelling is a multivalent word. It can describe a place. It can describe an action. That place can be a physical structure or a mental construct. That action can be oriented from different perspectives. You can dwell in a place, time, or construct, experiencing it from the center as it envelops you. You can dwell on a place, time, or construct, observing as it develops adjacent to you. We dwell in our homes in the present. We dwell on the past and on the future. Furthermore, while we all might hope to dwell in a happy and contented place in time, oftentimes we are forced to dwell in conditions beyond our choosing, forced to grapple with circumstance to secure a safe dwelling for ourselves and for those who come after us.

Sense of Dwelling: Master of Fine Arts Candidates Exhibition II presents mixed media works featuring painting, sculpture, photography, video, and sound that each explore in their own way the importance, power, and possibility to be found in an exploration of dwelling as place, action, and experience.

Chandler Damrill’s archeologically inflected installation constitutes an “archive of the future.” Presenting the remains of the life and work of a mysterious inventor extracted from an apocalyptic future, Chandler’s work chronicles the persistence of hope in an inexorably doomed world. Lexus Giles’ installation, shaped by PVC and ceramics made from Mississippi clay, places a spotlight on the ongoing water crisis faced by residents of Jackson, Mississippi. Lexus asks the gallery visitor to engage with the perspectives of a community that continues to be disrupted by the negligence of government institutions and a failure of public infrastructure. Through the conceptual framework of Abolitionist University Studies, Otari Oliva Buadze makes visible the burdens faced by graduate students under the university system in the state of Florida. In a bold combination of text and design, his prints emphasize the limiting effect of institutional demands on a student’s capacity for social engagement. In her multi-channel video piece, Jeongmin Park investigates the difficulties to be found in navigating the boundaries of cultural perception and reception as a foreigner in the United States. Jeongmin’s video projections focus specifically on the nature of language as barrier and boundary between different cultures. Finally, Kenny Wilson’s large paintings that drape from the wall into the gallery space, make available for greater scrutiny the seemingly familiar. Drawing on memory and lived experience, Kenny’s pieces make the wonderous nature of seemingly mundane space shaped by everyday objects harder to look past.

The works of each of these artists present the visitor with unique constructed environments that invite a dwelling on notions of lived experience, permanence, desire, nostalgia, and possibility.

The exhibition is co-curated by Jesús Fuenmayor and Mark Hodge.

Daytime Parking
There are 3 reserved gallery parking spots located in the lot just east of Reid Hall. From SW 13th Street, enter campus via Museum Road, then take the first right into the Orange decal parking lot and follow the lot until it dead-ends. The gallery spots can be found on the right, facing SW 13th Street. A temporary (one-day) parking pass can be retrieved from the Gary R. Libby University Gallery. Parking restrictions for this lot are lifted at 4:30pm.

Reception Parking
The closest parking to the Gary R. Libby University Gallery is the lot behind (to the west of) Tigert Hall. From University Avenue, enter campus via Buckman Drive and turn left onto Union Road. Follow Union Road through the 4-way stop. The parking lot entrance is on the right just past Walker Hall. Parking restrictions for this lot are lifted at 5:30pm.

Room #

Gary R. Libby Focus Gallery

Address

400 SW 13th Street
Fine Arts Building B (FAB)
Gainesville
FL 32611

Phone

(352) 273-3000

Website

Gary R. Libby University Gallery Website