The Harris Gallery is proud to present ‘Imaginary Selves,’ a group exhibition featuring the work of Jane Callister, Lisa Jevbratt, Viet L’, Brian McArthur, Catalina Jarmillo Quijano, and James Van Arsdale, guest curated by Jennifer Vanderpool. The exhibition title, ‘Imaginary Selves,’ signals the possibly for alternate personas, secret identities or perhaps fictionalized memories. Notions of disguise and fantasy facilitate a rich conversation between a diverse group of artists working in various processes and media.
Both a visual artist and a musician, James Van Arsdale works with various two and three-dimensional components to create an elaborate stage setting. Arsdale’s installation of denim tapestries, guitar sculptures and explosive color forms evoke recollections of rock and roll experiences. An accomplished ceramist, Brian McArthur sculpts detailed self-portraits. Using porcelain, ceramic and wood, McArthur’s pieces present meticulously crafted figures, animals and scenes with allusions to grand character arcs. Van Arsdale and McArthur’s memories and mythologies balance a sentimental awareness with a generous humor.
Vi?t L’ is an artist, curator, writer, and university professor who questions cultural production and its relationships to social justice. L”s lively music video, ‘Love Bang,’ seems to indulge glitzy extravagance to create a sensational fiction. Lisa Jevbratt’s interactive installation composed of an armchair, end table, rug and handmade dolls presents an intimate counterpoint to L”s pop culture extravagance. Jevbratt began with a family photo documenting her matrilineal genealogical line to create a tactile environment reminiscent of a family room in a rural Swedish home.
Jane Callister’s ‘Mad Sunday’ combines two and three-dimensional elements. An ornate black motorcycle helmet is positioned like a trophy with a ponytail of leather belts spilling from its face. Immediately behind the sculpture hangs a silvery gray painting that appears to have magical clouds formed from tangles of tire tracks. Callister’s work may be a catalyst to travel back in time via childhood memories or to speedily propel into an exciting unknown future. Catalina Jaramillo Quijano’ s works on paper, depict figures in specifically detailed interiors or freely floating, weightless and dreamlike. Her crisp contour lines imply a timeless existence where a man is fated to wait forever or a woman is drifting endlessly through empty space.