Exhibit | August 1, 2014

Three Prints Exhibits at the University of Richmond Museums

On view August 20 through October 6, 2014, in the Harnett Museum of Art, is the exhibition Tanja Softi?: Migrant Universe. Softi?’s prints, drawings, and paintings combine images of natural and man-made structures with drawings based on appropriated visual material: medical and botanical illustrations, maps and charts, manuscript illuminations, and comic art. Her work addresses concepts of cultural hybridity, chaos, and memory. Her series, Migrant Universe, created from 2007 to 2011, consists of ten large mixed media works and is a “visual poem” about identity and the worldview of the immigrant.

In regards to her work, Softi? states, “The visual vocabulary of the Migrant Universe drawings suggests a displaced existence: fragmented memories, adaptation, revival, and transformation. Because I do not live and work within the comfort or boundaries of the culture in which I first learned to observe, interpret, and engage the world, I have the arguable privilege of having lived more than one life. My memory is my virtual self and, paradoxically, my most authentic self. Yet, memory is a process that involves erosions and accretions that occur with any reconstructive, interpretative, or artistic act. One reconnects with what has been broken, fragmented, or overlaid. Remembering becomes an act of reconstruction, where one works with what is there and tries to visualize what has been lost. Because each act of memorization necessarily involves interpretation, there can be no objective recollection.”

Softi? is Professor of Art, Department of Art and Art History, University of Richmond. Her work is included in numerous collections in the United States and abroad, among them the New York Public Library, Library of Congress Print Department, and New South Wales Gallery of Art in Sydney, Australia. She participated in the 12th International Print Triennial in Cracow, Poland, and won a first prize at the 5th Kochi International Triennial Exhibition of Prints, Ino-cho Paper Museum, in Kochi, Japan in 2002. Recently, she completed print projects at Flying Horse Press, Tamarind Institute, and Anderson Ranch's Patton Printshop. Softi? is also a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Grant, National Endowment for the Arts/Southern Arts Federation Visual Artist Fellowship, and Soros Foundation-Open Society Institute Exhibition Support Grant.

The exhibition is organized and circulated by the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, College of Charleston School of the Arts, Charleston South Carolina. At the Harnett Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museums, the exhibition is made possible in part with support from the Louis S. Booth Arts Fund.

Also on view beginning August 20, 2014:

The Temple of Flora: Prints by Robert John Thornton and Jim Dine is on view through July 6, 2015, in the Harnett Museum of Art. Dr. Robert John Thornton published The Temple of Flora (1799-1807), a botanical book of prints depicting flora, information, commentary, and poetry. In 1984, American pop artist Jim Dine (born 1935) used the color mezzotints as models for his folio book “The Temple of Flora” also featuring etchings and poetry. The exhibition includes prints by Dine coupled with original Temple of Flora. Organized by the University of Richmond Museums, the exhibition was curated by Richard Waller, Executive Director, University Museums. The exhibition was made possible in part with support from the Louis S. Booth Arts Fund.

The Annual Student Exhibition highlights works selected by the studio art faculty of the University of Richmond’s Department of Art and Art History. The exhibition, on view through September 21, 2014, features artwork by studio art majors and minors along with non-majors enrolled during the University’s 2013 fall and 2014 spring semesters. The exhibition, organized by the University of Richmond Museums in collaboration with the Department of Art and Art History, was coordinated by Richard Waller, Executive Director, University Museums The exhibition is made possible in part with support from the Louis S. Booth Arts Fund.

Programs

Thursday, September 4, 2014, 6 to 8 p.m.

Reception, Harnett Museum of Art, Modlin Center for the Arts

Friday, September 5, 2014, 2 to 2:45 p.m.

Artist Talk, Harnett Museum of Art, Modlin Center for the Arts

Tanja Softi?, artist and Professor of Art, Department of Art and Art History, University of Richmond

Tuesday, September 16, 2014, 6 to 7 p.m.

Lecture, Jepson Hall, Room 118

Catalogue of Silence: what we forget when we forget about art

Tanja Softi?, artist and Professor of Art, Department of Art and Art History, University of Richmond

Tanja Softi?: Migrant Universe

Through October 6, 2014