UNIVERSITY NEWS - OCTOBER 2003

MEDIA CONTACT: Stacia Smith
561-297-2971 or ssmith@fau.edu

Photos available on request.

Contemporary Latin American Women Artists to be Featured in FAU Exhibition

BOCA RATON, FL (Sept. 25, 2003) -- Florida Atlantic University presents the exhibition "Corporal: Contemporary Women Artists from Latin America." The exhibition runs Saturday, October 25, 2003 through Sunday, January 25, 2004 in the University Galleries' Schmidt Center Gallery on FAU's Boca Raton campus, 777 Glades Road. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

An opening reception and lecture featuring Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska will be held Friday, October 24 at 7 p.m. in the University Theatre, FAU Boca Raton campus. The lecture, entitled "The Literature that Springs from the Streets," is part of the XIV International Conference of the Asociacion Internacional de Literatura Femenina Hispanica. Nora Erro-Peralta, president of the association and a professor in FAU's department of Languages and Linguistics, will open the conference.

"Corporal" presents 14 artists from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador and Mexico. The works of these internationally acclaimed artists represent a wide range of artistic practices in contemporary art including painting, photography, video, sculpture and installation. The artists employ the body, either human or animal, as a departing point in their work to explore life, death, myth and social/political issues, in expressions ranging from the erotic to the ascetic and the poetic to the humorous.

Among artists featured is Monica Van Asperen, using photographs of human figures wrapped in balloons. Her work alludes to skin and air, as in one long breath coming from the lungs. Another artist, Sandra Bermudez, explores the appearance of the female body in "The Pillow Series," where she presents compositions using small sections of skin in close-up photography. Janneth Mendez also uses skin in her sculptures, though, in her work, it is real dermal tissue.
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Other artists who investigate feminine identity are Ana Patricia Palacios, Silvia Gruner and Sandra Cinto. Cinto's presentation of linear drawings on the body alludes to contemporary as well as ancient tattoo practices.

Among the artists who work in several media is Lilliana Porter, who uses video, photography, installation and painting to juxtapose human and animal imagery.

Several artists show a fascination with nature. Maria Fernanda Cardoso explores zoomorphic realms by making sculptures from real lizards, toads and flies. "Dancing Frogs" joins many dried frogs with a circular metal ring that pierces each amphibian and forces viewers to think about our dominance of nature and the inevitability of death. Larissa Marangoni and Miami-based Eugenia Vargas explore environmental issues through video.

Giannina Coppiano Dwin worked as guest curator to select works for "Corporal" in consultation with University Galleries Director W. Rod Faulds. Dwin, a recent graduate of FAU's Master of Fine Arts program, was born and raised in Ecuador. "Corporal" and the Elena Poniatowska lecture are part of "Voices and Images from Latin America," a series of exhibitions and public programs presented in association with the Latin American Studies Certificate Program. One of these programs is a lecture on Thursday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. by Carol Damian, art department chair at Florida International University. She will draw from her book on the history of the Cuzco, Peru school of painting as it relates to the contemporary art presented in "Corporal."

"Corporal" is presented by the School of the Arts in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters in collaboration with the University Galleries, the Latin American Studies Certificate program, the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and the Department of Art. The exhibition and related programs have been made possible in part by the Division of Cultural Affairs, Florida Arts Council; The Palm Beach County Cultural Council; and FAU Student Government through student activity fees.

The Schmidt Center Gallery is open to the public Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 12 to 4 p.m.; Wednesday from 12 to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. For further information, please call the University Galleries at 561-297-2966 or visit www.fau.edu/galleries.
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