The Kent State University School of Art Gallery will present “Room of Relief – An Installation Designed By Three Master Printmakers – Curlee Raven Holton, Veronica Ceci and Francine K. Affourtit” through Oct. 11 in the School of Art Gallery. The gallery will host a closing reception and artist talk on Thursday, Oct. 10, from 5 to 7 p.m., which is free and open to the public. The gallery is located on the second floor of the Art building. Parking is available at 325 Terrace Drive in Kent.
“Room of Relief” is an exhibition designed by three printmakers who share a strong creative and philosophical interest in art that illuminates contradictions in the human condition. Holton first presented the idea of an exhibition/installation of large-relief prints. His intention was that they would speak to the need for art that provokes awareness in our daily lives of the compromise, ignorance and silence of our own participation in dehumanizing social dynamic. His work suggests that this failure to liberate ourselves from such suffering can be attributed to desire, ignorance and fear. The answer, he believes, is in knowledge and understanding. Holton uses images of medieval torture devices in the context of domestic bliss to illustrate this suffering and numbness to pain.
Ceci, a master lithographer, creates images that remind us that the banality of life is pronounced and heightened by the all-encompassing presence of cell phones and computers, for such technology distances us from real and meaningful contact with one another.
The third artist is relief printer Affourtit. She creates large, colorful images that masterfully manipulate the surface of her material to manifest illusions of space and dramatic, yet ambiguous personal relationships. Her work is poetic as well as tragic, but offers us, upon close observation, a deep faith in our transcendent potential.
The entire gallery space, as well as the glass wall and doors, will be used. This immersive environment will enable the viewer to seek understanding and relief from a daily life of suffering and distress to which we have become so accustomed.
For further information, please visit http://galleries.kent.edu or call the School of Art Gallery at 330-672-1379.