Learning Curve 15
Juried by Gary Burnley
March 24th, 2023 to May 19, 2023
© Mehdi Zouari
“So how does one judge an image? Do you look for something in particular, anything in particular? The experience of looking at and making images for over fifty years certainly was helpful. Still, the process is not an easy one to explain.
Can one image really be better than another? Is that possible and if so, how, and more importantly why?
I believe one make images for the same reasons one looks at them. Images shape how we understand and establish our place in the world. Pictures aid in recognizing who we are, help us to understand where we have been, who we have known, what we have learned and experienced. Images are about what we remember not what we have seen. They are not about the way it really was or the facts of the matter, (a view from a hilltop, the yard out back, someone I pass on the street). Images are about creating a presence, a memory that if captured at a particular time, in a particular way, will remain with you forever. Our lives are made of memories. They are why we are who we are. Effective images evoke memories, individually as well as collectively.
So, are landscapes better than portraits? Still-life better than abstracts? Is one more interesting than the other? With all things being equal why am I attracted to this more than I am to that? Could it be the size, how large or intimate it is? Is it the color here or the richness of the black and white there? Of the many factors in the work of the fourteen artists I chose to include in this exhibition, the memories their worked evoked was very compelling.
It was a pleasure to review the images submitted for Learning Curve 15. Thank you to all the artists who submitted work. The work submitted represented a wide and diverse range of experiences, techniques, directions and interests. The process was a difficult, challenging and rewarding one.”
— Gary Burnley
Visual Artist
Opening Reception
Friday, March 31st, 6pm–8pm
*The opening reception date was changed from
March 24th to March 31st due to a power outage.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Margaret Albán
Lorena Castillo Berrones
Steffani Frideres
Sharon Gonzalez
Jeffrey Horvath
Sandy LLoyd
Alexander Lowe McAdams
Margaret McCarthy
Christopher McConnell
Charlotte Niel
Nadine Parker
Sylvie Redmond
Cressandra Thibodeaux
Mehdi Zouari
About the Juror, Gary Burnley
Gary Burnley (b. Saint Louis, Missouri) creates physical collages that reconfigure historical models of beauty, identity and social status. Constructed from divergent visual fragments whose previous structure, meaning and historical importance, though no longer fully in tack, still live among a catalog of memories and consequences in the mind of the viewer. His amalgamations shift the reading of familiar narratives and generally accepted interpretations, nudging an emphasis towards the discovery of what could not otherwise have been anticipated. An oculus that reveals affiliations between seemingly unrelated images, the collages amend expectations by transposing representations and altering vernaculars, merging one meaning and another, one moment and another together. Burnley received a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MFA from Yale University. A 2022 recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship and The Aftermath Project Finalist Grant, his work is part of museum and private collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, Light Work Collection, Syracuse, NY, Candela Collection, Richmond, VA, Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN., Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC. Selected solo and group exhibitions include Aperture Gallery, NYC, Amarillo Art Museum, Amarillo, TX, Ogden Museum, New Orleans, LA, Elizabeth Houston Gallery, NYC, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR, Queens Museum, Queens, NY, Alice Austen House Museum, Staten Island, NY, Hansen-Fuller Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX, Tbilisi University, Tbilisi, Georgia, Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, Candela Gallery, Richmond, VA, Holly Solomon Gallery, NYC, SALON, Florence, Italy, and Artists Space, NYC.
About Learning Curve
Learning Curve is an annual call for entry that culminates in an exhibition of selected work made by HCP’s students from the past year. From digital to alternative processes, the exhibition highlights the various educational programs HCP offers through its Learning Center.
Questions?
For questions about this exhibition, please contact André Ramos-Woodard,
Exhibitions and Programs Coordinator, at andre@hcponline.org or 713-529-4755, ext 16.