New exhibitions opening in the Mesaros Galleries at the West Virginia University Creative Arts Center this week include works by nationally recognized artists Phyllis Bramson, a painter from Chicago, and Jason Lee, a multimedia sculptor and installation artist, who is currently an assistant professor of art at the University. Both exhibitions will be open through Oct. 8.

Bramson will present a visiting artist lecture at the Creative Arts Center on Sept. 3, at 5 p.m. in the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall in Room 200A. The opening reception for the exhibitions will follow at 6 p.m. at the galleries.

Bramson’s exhibition, titled “I Tremble for You,” will be on view in the Laura Mesaros Gallery and is curated by Robert Bridges.

“Phyllis Bramson has contributed to Chicago-based figurative art since the 1970s,” Bridges said. “Her interests and influences, including surrealism and outsider art, are akin to those of many Chicago artists past and present. She creates complex and rich pictures utilizing found paintings, collage, fabric, and found objects – all assembled with vivid color and lush surfaces.”

“Her imagery is equally multifarious, employing an array of characters culled from cartoons, coloring books, Japanese prints, greeting cards, children’s books and pop culture from long-gone eras,” he said.

For more information, see http://www.phyllisbramson.com.

Lee’s exhibition, titled “Studies in Modern Euthenics,” will be on view in the Paul Mesaros Gallery and Lee will present a visiting artist lecture about his work Thursday, Sept. 17, at 5 p.m. in the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall in Room 200A of the Creative Arts Center.

Euthenics is the science of adjusting a living environment in order to improve the human condition. According to Lee, his work “sanitizes the classic landscape for our viewing pleasure.”

The seamlessly crafted light boxes used in Lee’s elaborate installations display photographic images of sections of green suburban lawns, pure blue puddles of water, and the occasional fluffy cloud. Presented in clusters, sometimes interrupted by curving picket fences or floating “ponds” of cast plastic ducks, these internally lit images reside within boundaries both real and perceived.

“They are constructed sterile environments that question the perceived safety and security of suburbia at the expense of real experience,” Lee said.

For example, one configuration, entitled “Euthenic Landscape: Crik” depicts such an environment, with its cooling fans humming away, creating the idea of a cool summer breeze. But all natural elements are removed, leaving only the artificial ideal of a day spent down by the water, preserved, for decades of safe, sterile enjoyment.

“As the natural environment continues to deteriorate these modular representations remain pristine,” Lee said. “My work addresses the futuristic ideal of my childhood. The landscape is neatly compartmentalized for use anywhere. Why have the real thing when the allergy-free facsimile is readily available and easily configurable to fit any interior space?”

Lee has exhibited his work at 16 Beaver Space in New York, Spaces Gallery in Cleveland, The Contemporary Arts Collective in Las Vegas, The Soap Factory in Minneapolis, Western Exhibitions in Chicago, The Wisconsin Triennial, and the Cleveland Museum of Art as well as having his work featured in the Museum Of Contemporary Art Cleveland’s Curve series in 2004. His work was featured in the 2007 “Beyond/In New York” exhibition in Buffalo and he received the 2008 Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC) Fellowship.
To learn more about Jason Lee and to see examples of his work, visit http://www.jleesculpture.com.

Managed and programmed by Curator Robert Bridges and the WVU Division of Art, the Mesaros Galleries organize a diverse and exciting schedule of exhibitions throughout the year. The galleries are committed to showing experimental work that is innovative both in terms of media and content. The Mesaros Galleries and the WVU Division of Art and Design also host contemporary artists of important or growing reputation who work in all media in the Visiting Artist Program.

All Mesaros Galleries events, including art lectures, exhibitions and receptions are free and open to the public.

Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, from noon to 9:30 p.m. The galleries are closed Sundays and University holidays. Special individual or group viewing times may be arranged upon request.

For more information, contact Robert Bridges, curator, at (304) 293-4841, Ext. 3210 or visit http://ccarts.wvu.edu/mesaros_galleries.

-WVU-

9/1/09

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4841 ext. 3108, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu