Strandell Works to be Featured in Bradbury Art Museum
JONESBORO – Bradbury Art Museum (BAM) at Arkansas State University will open a new exhibition, “Transit Terrain and Other Spatial Narratives,” Thursday, July 13, with a 5 to 6:30 opening reception.
Admission to the reception and exhibition, which continues through Aug. 30, is free.
This show will be a solo exhibition of artwork by painter-printmaker Mary Ann Strandell.
Strandell’s work reaches beyond the barriers between artistic disciplines, and viewers will encounter a broad variety of methods and materials — from GIF animation to ink drawing to 3D lenticular media.
“Mary Ann Strandell has participated in our annual Delta National Small Prints Exhibition many times over the years. We are excited to have this opportunity to see the full breadth of her artistic practice, and we believe the community will enjoy her work as much as we do,” said Madeline McMahan, museum educator and co-curator of the exhibition.
Strandell’s studio practice combines technology with history. Computer software and high-tech printing practices are used to create lenticular prints from imagery that is at times personal photography, at others internet sourced, and often references historical objects or spaces. Her other works, are created using older materials such as oil paint or ink. These media have existed for over 1,000 and over 4,000 years, respectively.
Paired with newer practices, such as lenticular printing or digital collage, they mimic the juxtaposition of imagery that can be found visually in Strandell’s work. Lenticular printing is a technique that creates an illusion of depth or movement, allowing the viewer to perceive the image changing as they move around it.
An installation titled “Reacquisition” is one of the focal points of the exhibition. It is a selection of oil paintings and lenticular media arranged over the top of a large-scale, ink wall drawing. Strandell writes, “The configuration of this main installation considers the inter-changing states of historic representation placed within this contemporary moment.”
“Reacquisition” utilizes imagery of an appropriated Rococo boiserie, referencing a number of meeting spaces throughout Western history. In the installation, Strandell considers that today’s meetings and connections often happen through technological devices, over the internet or on our phones.
“These antique sites of the conduct of power are balanced against our fragmented and contemporary moment,” she explains. “My installation slows down this experience to see our oldest technology, ink drawing, overlaid by renderings of architectural icons such as the 3D lenticular of the Apple Store staircase and Richard Nuetra’s California modern interior, as well as a Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin.”
Bradbury Art Museum is in Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive. Hours of operation are noon to five, Tuesday through Saturday. Viewers may also schedule a tour of the exhibition by contacting mmcmahan@AState.edu or calling (870) 972-3434.
