Marymount University is pleased to present ARTECH with multi-media works by Susan Eder, Alexis Gomez, and Jonathan Monaghan. The exhibition focuses on the advancements of modern day technology, its influence on the world around us, and the ways it can be incorporated into the creation of artwork. The three featured artists use their creations to draw attention to both art and technology, highlighting the ways that these two ideas can intertwine thematically to create context and physically to create the artwork. The exhibition is presented in conjunction with Marymount University’s Ethics Week, “Ethics and Technology”. ARTECH will run from January 25 – February 24, 2019 with the opening reception on Friday, February 1 from 6 to 8 PM.
Susan Eder’s artwork looks at effects of genetic manipulation and cloning that occurs during the process of growing orchids for the mass market. Commercially-grown orchids can feature abnormalities in petal structure and color which can become highly admired and purposefully bred. Eder’s photographs are unedited and illustrate the differences between the outcome orchid growers are aiming for and a surprise mutation resulting from all of the genetic manipulations and cloning of the plants of the same variety. Eder states: “Just as exposure to toxins might cause a genetic mutation in an animal or human, directly manipulating the orchids’ genes can produce unexpected consequences. Even though they are errors, these unexpected blossoms can sometimes become commercially desirable, so the industrial growers might then propagate those mistake’ orchids”. Eder, who is also in a collaborative with Craig Dennis, is represented by Marsha Mateyka Gallery in Washington, DC. Exhibitions include Chroma Projects, Charlottesville, George Mason University, McLean Projects for the Arts, Katzen Arts Center, Norton Museum of Art and The Cultural Arts Center, Richmond, VA. She has received many awards including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work is in numerous collections including LaGrange Art Museum, The Chrysler Museum, Colgate University, Longwood University, and Hartnett Museum of Art. She received her BFA from the University of Michigan and her MFA from Ohio State University.
Alexis Gomez’s work investigates the space inhabited by human beings through sculptural and digital
techniques. He combines figural shapes with illusionistic patterns to represent the types of spaces that human beings interact with. His interactive sculptures incorporate augmented reality and examine the ways that the mind moves between literal space and formless space in hopes of discovering an answer to the question “Can we separate body from mind?” Gomez received his BFA from the Corcoran School of Art & Design, GWU. Recent exhibitions include the DC Arts Center, Target Gallery, Alexandria, VA, Maryland Federation of Art, and Transformer Gallery, Washington, DC. His work has been included in Whurk Magazine, Northern Virginia Magazine, and The Washington Post. He is currently an artist-in-residence at the Torpedo Factory, Alexandria, VA.
Jonathan Monaghan’s artworks are deeply imagined, fantastical works that examine underlying anxieties associated with modern-day technology and consumerism. His sculptural prints occupy the space between the virtual and physical while evoking feelings of secure, high-end housing contrasted with references of the 2007 housing collapse. Monaghan work includes print, sculpture, and video installation. His work has been exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, bitforms gallery in New York, Spazio Ridotto inVenice, and Market Gallery in Glasgow. Group exhibitions include The Palais de Tokyo in Paris, New Frontier at the Sundance Film Festival, Lehman College Art Gallery and Postmasters Gallery in New York. His work has been features in The Washington Post, VICE, The Wall Street Journal, and The Village Voice. He received his BFA from the New York Institute of Technology and his MFA from University of Maryland. He is represented by bitforms gallery, New York and 22,48 m², Paris.
The Barry Gallery, located in the Reinsch Library at Marymount University, 2807 North Glebe Road, is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Admission is free. The Reinsch Library and Barry Gallery entrance is at 26th Street, just north of Yorktown Boulevard. Access for individuals with disabilities is available.
For more information on the gallery, email Barry Gallery director Sarah Hardesty at bgallery@marymount.edu
Images:
Alexis Gomez, Prometheus, 2018, MDF and AR activation, 41 x 16 inches
Jonathan Monaghan, You’ll Like it Here, 2017, From the series Police State Condo, Dye-sublimation on aluminum, 3D printed 18K gold plated brass, acrylic, MDF frame, 35 x 28 x 1 in / 88.9 x 71.1 x 2.5 cm, Edition of 3, 1 AP
Susan Eder, Pink-Speckled Moon (Normal Blossom/Surprise Mutation), 2013, LightJet print,18 x 29.5 inches matted, edition of 5.
