Sculptural Works of Melissa Pokorny at Peeler Art Center, January 28 - March 1

January 15, 2009

Also: '[re]wind 4.0: Contemporary Video Art, 2000-2009,' January 28 - May 10

January 15, 2009, Greencastle, Ind. — "Melissa Pokorny: Ultra," a solo exhibition of the work of artist Melissa Pokorny, will open at DePauw University's Richard E. Peeler Art Center on January 28, and will be on view through March 1. You're also invited to attend an opening reception with a slide talk by the artist, which will take place on Thursday, February 26, from 4 to 6 p.m. (left: At Large, 2004; resin dog, polyurethane, polar fleece, silicone and glass beads)

Melissa Pokorny's idiosyncratic sculptural works wryly explore the delicate and transient relationships between the natural and the artificial, order and chaos, and high art and kitsch. As she admits, she is fascinated with the "thingness" of things and the improbable relationships they can have to each other. In her "homemade cultural probes," resin dogs, songbirds, and ersatz rocaille décor gathered from hobby stores, Internet collectible sites, and estate sales are arranged with digitally rendered, photo-collaged architectural elements that elicit memories of spaces. The artist culls, collects and repurposes these found objects and images of remembered spaces, placing them in a close conversation that suggests kitschy symbolism and whimsically mythic associations. (at right: Monkey My Love, 2008; polystyrene, archival digital prints, resin objects, polar fleece, silicone and aluminum tape)

Using the strategies of still-life composition and tableau vivant painting, Pokorny's assemblages explore the arbitrary, the inappropriate, and the accidental, while evoking a wry sense of melancholy. By using overtly artificial means to represent space, coupled with uncanny realistic animal figurines and casts, she questions our estrangement from, and subsequent longing for connection to the natural world, and the resulting substitution of the real by the fake.

Pokorny received an M.F.A. in Studio Practice from the University of California, Davis, in 1988. Her work has been shown in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York City, and is in the collections of the Oakland Museum of California, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Orange County Museum of Art. She lives, works, and teaches in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.

The galleries at the Peeler Art Center are open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.; and Sunday 1 - 5 p.m., and are closed during University breaks and holidays.

For more information, visit DePauw galleries online.

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