Wexner Center Announces Line-Up for Its First Juried Exhibition on View This Summer

Cell Phone Tours Offered, Featuring Artists Commenting on Their Work

Columbus, OH—The verdict is in. With the help of three respected art world luminaries, the Wexner Center has announced the selection of artists to be on view in State Fare: Three Ohio Artists at the Wexner Center May 12–August 12, 2007. The artists are: multimedia installation artist Tracy Featherstone from Hamilton, video artist Mark Harris from Cincinnati, and Rain Harris, a sculptor from Columbus. They were chosen from over 500 entries, an overwhelming response to the call for entries that was open to any Ohio artist, 18 or older.

The works in the exhibitions were selected by a blind jury of distinguished museum professionals from across the country, including Elizabeth N. Armstrong, deputy director for programs and chief curator at the Orange County Museum of Art; Elizabeth Smith, the James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago; and Hamza Walker, director of education at the Renaissance Society, University of Chicago. State Fare was guest curated by Sean Foley, a lecturer in The Ohio State University’s Department of Art.

Wexner Center Director Sherri Geldin states: “State Fare was conceived to bring national curatorial perspective to work being produced in Ohio. While it wouldn’t appear that a particular regional or state-defined ethos is at work, this open submission process, adjudicated by three leading curators from across the country, allows the center to showcase Ohio artists, but in a national context.”

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Tracy Featherstone reveals the unstable relationship between man and the natural environment through awkward acts of balance in her installations which she says “revert back to my first efforts at establishing my own environment through living room fort construction.” Featherstone graduated with a BFA in Fine Arts from the University of Cincinnati and a MFA from the University of Arizona, and is currently an Assistant Professor and Foundations Coordinator at Miami University. Her work has been shown nationally, internationally at locations such as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and here in Columbus at the ROY-G-BIV Gallery in the Short North. 

Primarily a video artist, Mark Harris creates intricate works that explore and comment on youth culture, music, art history, and philosophy. After graduating from the Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Royal College of Art, London, England, his work has been shown internationally in numerous venues including the Tate Modern and even locally here in Hopkins Hall Gallery at The Ohio State University. He writes reviews for both Art in America and Art Monthly and is currently the Director of the School of Art at the University of Cincinnati.

Ranging in scale from dainty diminutive porcelin objects to large sprawling installations, the work of sculptor and installation artist Rain Harris examines the ironies associated with excess and wealth through color, pattern, and decoration. After receiving a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design, Harris’s work has been shown internationally in Korea, Puerto Rico, and Denmark; nationally in SOFA, The International Expositions of Sculpture & Functional Art, in both New York and Chicago; and locally in Best of 2004 at the Ohio Craft Museum. In 2005, Harris was also a visiting Artist and Lecturer at The Ohio State University.

STATE FARE CELL PHONE TOURS

The Wexner Center will offer its first audio tour in conjunction with State Fare, featuring interviews with the three exhibiting artists about their inspirations and artistic practices in reference to the works on view. The tour also features remarks from Wexner Center director Sherri Geldin and Ohio First Lady Frances Strickland. Visitors will be able to access the tour content in two ways, either as a podcast downloaded from the Center’s website (www.wexarts.org/wexcasting) or through their cell phones by dialing (408) 794-0875, which connects to an automated system hosted by the San Francisco-based company Guide by Cell. The only cost to the cell tour user is airtime minutes. Those who access the tour by cell phone will be able to leave their feedback and thoughts on the exhibition.

EXHIBITION SUPPORT

This exhibition is organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts.

The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program or organization with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

The exhibition is presented at the Wexner Center for the Arts with support from the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation and Wexner Center members.

Accommodations are provided by The Blackwell Inn.

VISITOR INFORMATION

THE EXHIBITION: State Fare: Three Ohio Artists, Wexner Center’s first juried exhibition devoted to Ohio resident artists.

DATES: May 12–August 12, 2007. Also on view: Robert Beck: dust, Chris Marker: Staring Back, and Zoe Leonard: Analogue.

LOCATION: Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 North High Street at 15th Avenue at The Ohio State University. Parking in Ohio Union Garage just south of the Center.

GALLERY HOURS: Tuesday–Wednesday and Sunday 11 am–6 pm; Thursday–Saturday 11 am–8 pm. The galleries are closed on Monday.

ADMISSION: Free.

PUBLIC INFORMATION: wexarts.org or 614 292-3535