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Hyperallergic: “I Wanted to Make Art that Told a Story”: Alison Saar on Her Eloquent Sculptures

LOS ANGELES — The artist Alison Saar set a goal for herself long ago: to clearly communicate her ideas and emotions through the power of form. Her sculptures have their own personal vocabulary that speaks in a direct language about history, race, and mythology. If her sculptures are the melodies that capture one’s soul, the narratives behind them are the lyrics.

Artillery: Fay Ray at Shulamit Nazarian

Fay Ray (BFA '02) often says her work is about the construction of identity, which is something a lot of artists say. But in “I AM THE HOUSE” Ray takes that premise in sublime new directions, in a series of sculptures and photo-based works that through formal materials, actions and techniques of their processes, and narrative aspects of their content, do construct identity, right before your eyes.

The Los Angeles Times: Alison Saar turns things 'Topsy Turvy' at L.A. Louver

When we first meet Topsy in the pages of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," the enslaved young girl grins, "goblin-like," and repeatedly professes her wickedness. She embodies blackness to her young mistress Eva's whiteness; she plays devil to Eva's saint, base earth to Eva's ethereal spirit. She comes into the St. Clare family as a civilizing project, a heathen to be educated, tamed, Christianized.

The Korea Times: Otis College 100th Anniversary Exhibition Opens in Insa-dong, Seoul on the 14th

Otis College's 100th Anniversary Exhibition 'ASIA / LA ← → LA / ASIA' will be held at the ARA Art Center in Insa-dong, Seoul.

The exhibition, which will be held on the 1st and 2nd floor floors of the ARA Art Center (underground), will be on view from April 14 - 22, showcases the work of Otis College graduates and faculty. 

Bruce Ferguson, president of Otis College of Art and Design, said, "This exhibition of Otis' 100-year tradition marks the close connection between LA and Asia, celebrating the Otis College community that created global artists." 

Blouin Artinfo: Alison Saar’s ‘Topsy Turvy’ at L.A. Louver, Los Angeles

L.A. Louver is hosting Alison Saar’s "Topsy Turvy” at its Los Angeles venue.

An exhibition of new works by the Los Angeles-based artist takes inspiration from the character of Topsy in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic Civil War-era novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Saar re-contextualizes the sprightly uncouth slave girl as a symbol of defiance, through paintings on dyed vintage linens and sculptures carved from wood.

Juxtapoz: Kerry James Marshall, The Key Figure

In 2016, the Kerry James Marshall ('78 Fine Arts) retrospective, Mastry, traveled from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (MCA) to the Met Breuer. Standing behind the clear plexiglass podium, about to address the press, Kerry took a deep breath, looked down, noticed his descended zipper, corrected it, and then delivered his wonderfully disarming chuckle, effectively deepening the awe of the already starstruck audience.

Artforum: All Hands on Deck, Critics' Pick

In her 1994 book The Body in Pieces: The Fragment as a Metaphor of Modernity, the late art historian Linda Nochlin analogized representations of the disintegrated figure to tumultuous moments in the modern period’s political and metaphysical flux. While she linked some examples to the era’s chaotic break from antique notions of unification and permanence, Nochlin argued that others gestured to literal experiences of violence by communities under assault.

Juxtapoz Magazine: Future Feminine

Future Feminine is a group exhibition at The Fahey/Klein Gallery focused on the evolution of the feminine perspective in an otherwise male dominated medium. The exhibition presents the visions of a group of distinctly 21st century female photographers with their eyes toward the future. Their abstractions of intimacy explore the intricacies of our relationships with the feminine lens.

Full Circle: Alumnus Vincent Ramos Curates Powerful Exhibition at LACMA

On January 27, A Universal History of Infamy: Those of This America will open to the public at Charles White Elementary School. Curated by artist and educator Vincent Ramos (BFA Fine Arts '02), the exhibition displays works by contemporary Latino artists, writers, and activists exploring loss, resilience, and the political potential of poetic expression alongside several pieces from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's (LACMA) collection. 

V Magazine: The New Vision, Kelly Akashi

With genre-bending bodies of work that span a range of mediums and materials, these are the names to know in today’s evolving scene. First up is sculptor Kelly Akashi (BFA Fine Arts '06).