past exhibitions : mfa exhibition - 3 faculty

MFA EXHIBITION: 3 FACULTY

Ulf Rollof, Katarina Weslien, Krzysztof Wodiczko June 16 - August 2, 2001 Opening Reception: Friday, June 29, 2001

Portland, Maine (June 4, 2001) -The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art (ICA at MECA) will highlight three faculty from MECA's Master of Fine Arts program. Ulf Rollof, Katarina Weslien, and Krzysztof Wodiczko will present new bodies of artwork. The MFA Exhibition: 3 Faculty will be on view June 16 - August 16, 2001. An opening reception with the artists will take place on Friday June 29, 5 - 7 pm.

The works created by these artists have attracted far-reaching audiences throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Each works in a variety of media to communicate their stories of time, culture, and society. Their works are centered around the concept of heritage and how that affects their interactions, perceptions and sensitivities to others.

Ulf Rollof has been involved in numerous juried exhibitions, including the Venice Biennial. His work explores the concepts of human worth, memory, healing, illness, and relationships. His intimate portrayals of ailing humans illustrate the feminine and masculine responses to illness and the inherent roles that each sex plays. Rollof works in a variety of media including; works on paper that echo diary entries, installation, photographic, and 3-D work to create elaborate entrances and structures that coincide with his exhibitions.

Multi-disciplinary artist Katarina Weslien, Co-Director of MECAís MFA program, works largely in installation and photography. Weslien most recently exhibited in Stockholm, Sweden, showing large scale Iris prints depicting spaces that represent memory, time, personal space, and psychology. Weslien's installation work for the upcoming ICA exhibition will include video projections creating images of personal and cultural memory.

Krzysztof Wodiczko has shown internationally, creating exhibits that respond to each location. In 1999, he was awarded the Hiroshima Prize, awarded every three years to a notable contemporary artist whose work contributes to world peace. Wodiczko's current work involves video footage projected onto symbolic building facades. Through this media he explores relationships between individuals, architecture, and society. His objective is to foster social change. The image on the left is an example of his public art, a woman speaking about her murdered child is projected onto Charlestown, Massachusetts's Bunker Hill Monument. Wodiczko is currently the director of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT in Cambridge, MA.

The ICA at MECA, located in the Porteous Building, 522 Congress Street, Portland, Maine, is open Wednesday - Sunday, 11:00 am - 5:00 pm, Thursdays until 7:00 pm, First Fridays until 8:00 pm. Weekly half-hour tours of exhibitions are held on Wednesdays at 12:15 pm. Admission is free. For more information call 207-879-5742.

The only accredited graduate program of its kind in the U.S., the MECA MFA in Studio Arts is a self-designed two-year course of study that features: an eight week summer residency lead by world-class visiting faculty; fall and spring, off-campus studio and academic study under the direction of a personal non-resident studio instructor; ten-day mid winter intensive with study on-campus and in New York; a strong theory and cultural studies component. Visit www.MECA.edu for more information.