Arts & Humanities Society & Culture

‘Responses in Time: Video Submissions to the Kress Project’ on view at GMOA

Kress_Video-v.environ
Amela Winger-Bearskin's video responds to the Georgia Museum of Art's "St. Clare."

Athens, Ga. – The Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia is hosting the brief exhibition “Responses in Time: Video Submissions to the Kress Project” from now until March 18 in the Alonzo and Vallye Dudley Gallery, which is devoted to new media. This exhibition features videos submitted to the Kress Project, a competition and online exhibition of creative responses inspired by the GMOA’s Kress Study Collection of Italian Renaissance and Baroque paintings. The Kress Project is organized by GMOA and made possible by a grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.

Lynn Boland, GMOA’s Pierre Daura Curator of European Art, chose to display works by Amelia Winger-Bearskin, Mark Starling, Katherine Hammond and Lee Smith, Ted Kuhn, Kelly Ozust and Peter Russell to play on a loop in the gallery.

“I’ve been deeply impressed with the submissions to this project in every medium, and I was thrilled with the six eligible videos we received, that I didn’t feel a selection was even necessary,” said Boland. “All are beautiful and thoughtful responses to our Kress paintings and help put these Renaissance and Baroque works in a new light for contemporary viewers. I’m excited to have the opportunity to show them in our Dudley Gallery in addition to their online presence.”

Winger-Bearskin is an assistant professor of studio art at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tenn. Her video responds to the museum’s painting of St. Clare and features original music to which she set lyrics by St. Francis of Assisi written during Clare’s lifetime. She said, in her artist’s statement submitted with the work, “I am interested in imagining what St. Clare means to modern ecologists, nature lovers and animal rights advocates.”

Starling’s “The Saints, The Saints” investigates the notion of sainthood in relation to our current condition through photographs taken in New York City, which the artist arranges in a montage.

Hammond and Smith, a team who have worked together for more than 30 years in a variety of media, created their video submission “To the God of Your Choice” in response to Simone dei Crocefissi’s “Madonna and Child with Saints.” They described it as “represent[ing] stories of a life of an adventurer, who believes, in perhaps, another God” and pointed out that it addresses the artist’s “…outstanding attention to genre and decorative detail, innovative imagery and exaggerated facial expressions.”

Kuhn, a local artist who recently created an original performance piece for ATHICA’s exhibition “Southern” submitted a video entitled “Cross Check,” meant to be run as a loop that addresses, in the artist’s words, “…repetition and self-involvement.”

Russell’s “Prägnanz” takes its title from a concept in Gestalt philosophy that focuses on objects being seen in as simple a manner as possible.

Ozust’s submission “In/En Vision,” is actually a work of choreography for the camera, incorporating a length of bright pink fabric that wraps around and envelops the dancer’s body.

Ozust said, “My work seeks to tell the stories of those who might otherwise not be heard. I want dance to feel inclusive…. I know that dance can simultaneously reflect, create and react to history, so by intertwining personal events, public histories and strong emotion, I attempt to create work that resonates with the past and the present.”

Judging for the Kress Project, which will result in a multimedia publication and 24 prizewinners, is underway, and winners will be notified in mid-April.

See http://www.georgiamuseum.org/kressproject for more details and to see submissions in other media.

Museum Information
Partial support for the exhibitions and programs at the Georgia Museum of Art is provided by the Georgia Council for the Arts through appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. The council is a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Individuals, foundations and corporations provide additional museum support through their gifts to the University of Georgia Foundation. The Georgia Museum of Art is located in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex on the East Campus of the University of Georgia. The address is 90 Carlton Street, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga. 30602-6719. For more information, including hours, see www.georgiamuseum.org or call 706/542-GMOA (4662).

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