April 24 – May 9, 2009
Jurors' Statement
In today's media saturated environment, the next generation of artists has the unique opportunity to transform the world in which we see. Our contemporary existence is informed by a landscape filled with countless images, corporate messaging, and urban sprawl. This continually immersive lifestyle has an impact on our consciousness and influences our aesthetic sensibility. One of the most important roles of artists is to comment on the world and how the elements of life surround us. They embrace this experience and articulate further the state of our surroundings.
Universities strive to produce thoughtful and compassionate individuals. The student's responsibility in this setting is to take advantage of the opportunity to develop their skills, crafts, and intellect as well as to create a distinct voice that communicates their ideas. The works in this exhibition execute these ideas in a variety of mediums and techniques; they reflect the personal methodology and distinct iconography of each individual artist.
This being the twenty-fifth anniversary of The Juried Student Exhibition at the Laband Art Gallery, we are encouraged by the presence of such a wide variety of media and programs supported by the university's art department. We join you in celebrating this incredible milestone and support your ongoing commitment to the visual arts in Los Angeles.
About the Jurors
Clement Hanami is a Japanese-American artist. He grew up in the predominantly hispanic Los Angeles, California suburb of East Los Angeles, just outside of downtown. His mother is a hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivor. His father was a World War II evacuee.
He received his M.F.A. from the University of California Los Angeles in Studio Art with a specialization in New Genres. At UCLA, his mentor was Paul McCarthy and he worked alongside artists like Jason Rhoades, Robert Billings, Steve Hurd, and Martin Kersels. His work has been exhibited in California and New York. He co-managed the collaborative Arts partnership project Finding Family Stories and co-designed the exhibit Common Ground: The Heart of Community with ADOBE LA. His works have been seen in The Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art/LA, Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Armory Center for the Arts, John Ansen Ford Theater, California Museum of Photography, Long Beach Museum of Art, AFI National Video Festival, Santa Monica Museum of Art, KCET Independent Eye, Westwind Magazine, and Show-Mag Gallery.
Clement is currently the Art Director at the Japanese American National Museum and primarily responsible for the design, installation, fabrication and maintenance of the Museum's major exhibits, and New Genres teacher at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. He is also a Cultural Affairs Commissioner for the City of Culver City. He received a Getty Visual Arts Fellowship in 2000 and is a COLA artist for 2006-2007 awarded by the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles. In 2006 he participated in "Tigers and Jaguars: L.A.'s Asian-Latino Art Phenomenon" at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles.
Lisa Henry is an independent curator and writer whose work focuses on photo-based art. She has curated exhibitions including Connections currently on view at Jenkins Johnson Galleries in New York and San Francisco, and the traveling exhibitions Double Exposure: African Americans Before and Behind the Camera and Young Americans: Photographs by Sheila Pree Bright. Since 2004 Henry also has been a guest curator for The Amistad Center at The Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT. In Los Angeles she has worked as a consultant for The Japanese American National Museum, The California African American Museum and the MAK Center for Art and Architecture. She received her MA in Critical and Curatorial Studies from UCLA.
Award Winners
(From left to right)
Juror's 1st Prize
Hilary Wootton
Untitled (Birds)
Acrylic, ink, and paper on canvas
Juror's 2nd Prize
Kendal Coopman and Kristen Harkonen
Freak 3a and Freak 3b
C-prints
Juror's 3rd Prize
Alexandra Thomas
Cookbook
Artist's book
Director's Award of Distinction
J.M. Nelson
Your Past Lives are Showing
Sautering pen on wood
Metal Society of Southern California
Richard Dagul
Peace in The Middle East
Silver and brass
Honorable Mentions
Maria Casal
Gangsta Classic
Silver
Justin Coates
Mud and Gold
Etching
Mary Grace
Awe
Porcelain water etch
Erica Lau
Los Angeles Marathon Poster
Digital print
Tory Rozzi
Just Their Freak
Gelatin silver print
Fifi Young
Wait
Wire
Joanna Valles
Bobby Brown
Acrylic on canvas