The Sarofim School of Fine Arts’ Studio Art Department proudly presents Luis Camnitzer: Unbound(Through March 6, 2017.)

Southwestern University’s Sarofim Fine Arts Gallery presents Luis Camnitzer: Unbound, an art exhibit that poses questions about socio-political issues remaining consistently in global news. At the heart of the exhibit are ethical dilemmas that face citizens worldwide and which challenge us to ask difficult questions about social injustices, political repression, and reevaluate the institutions that support them.

 

Luis Camnitzer: Unbound features The Uruguayan Torture Series and Last Words by Luis Camnitzer, who is German-born, and whose family emigrated to Uruguay during the Nazi regime. He eventually emigrated to the United States to develop an art program as a professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Old Westbury. Camnitzer’s work in printmaking, sculpture and installations is influential in international conceptual art, particularly in Latin America.  Conceptual art in the broadest terms places idea over the visual form of art and challenges the role of skill and craft as a defining condition of art. Using his distinctive play between image and text appropriated from archives, Camnitzer’s art is unbound by art traditions, his thinking unbound by the strictures of institutional norms, and the meaning of his work unbound from the moorings of time and place.

 

The Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas and Alexander Gray Associates gallery in New York are lending work for this exhibition, which is part of Brown Symposium 38: Art and Revolution. The symposium will be held on Southwestern University’s campus in Georgetown, Texas, from March 1 - 3, 2017, and features speakers and public salon discussants, including Camnitzer, who explore how the arts have given voice to the issues and themes that have spurred revolutions fueled by contributions from visual artists, musicians, playwrights, and authors. More information is available at http://www.southwestern.edu/academics/brownsymposium/index.php.

 

Camnitzer’s work has been shown in solo exhibitions internationally since the 1960s, and in influential exhibits such as: Under the Same Sun: Art from Latin America Today at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (2014); the Information show at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1970), which became a seminal exhibit in the conceptual art movement; and several international biennials: the Bienal de la Habana, Cuba (1984, 1986, 1991, 2009); Pavilion of Uruguay, 43 Biennale di Venezia, Italy (1988); Whitney Biennial (2000); and Documenta 11 (2002), all of which strongly influence cultural direction. Camnitzer is a respected author and critic with many articles and books to his credit, including Conceptualism in Latin American Art: Didactics of Liberation (published in Spanish and English) and New Art of Cuba.

 

Luis Camnitzer: Unbound opens January 30 and continues through March 6. The Sarofim Fine Arts Gallery hours are 12 - 5 p.m., closed Mondays. An artist’s reception with a short presentation by Camnitzer will occur on March 3 from 12:45 to 2:45 p.m. followed by a book signing. The public is invited to attend the symposium, art exhibition, and reception on Southwestern University’s historic campus at the Sarofim School of Fine Arts, East Rutersville Drive, Georgetown, Texas; all symposium and related events are free.  For more information about the exhibit call: (512) 863-1378 or visit www.southwestern.edu.

 

Luis Camnitzer: Unbound

Sarofim Fine Arts Gallery, Southwestern University

Georgetown, Texas

January 31 - March 6

Reception for the artist: March 3, 12:45- 2:45 pm