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PCC Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery's "P.O.V.: Interpreting the Human Figure" Oct. 22-Dec. 7

September 28, 2012

  • What: PCC Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery's "P.O.V.: Interpreting the Human Figure"
  • Where: PCC Center for the Arts, Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery, West Campus, 2202 W. Anklam Road, just west of downtown Tucson
  • When: October 22-December 7
  • Admission: The gallery and its programs are free.
  • Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Fridays 10 a.m.-3 p.m., and before most evening performances in the Center for the Arts theaters.
  • Special events:
    • Gallery talk Wednesday, Nov. 7, 1:30-2:30 p.m.; reception 5–7 p.m.; artist lecture by Bailey Doogan at 7 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Recital Hall
    • Guest lecture by Ann Lane Hedlund, “The Desert Tapestries of Louise Nevelson” Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. in the Recital Hall. Hedlund is the curator of ethnology and professor of anthropology at the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona.
  • Information: David Andres, 520-206-6942, www.pima.edu/cfa or centerforthearts@pima.edu

Tucson, AZ -- Pima Community College's Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery, under the direction of David Andres, presents "P.O.V.: Interpreting the Human Figure," featuring the works of Bailey Doogan, Judith Stewart, Tiffiney Yazzie, Luis Caballero, Vincent Desiderio and Keith McElroy.

In explaining his concept for this exhibition, Andres commented, “Because the human figure for both women and men have been over-objectified in the past, I wanted to achieve a fair view of the human figure as the subject of the art, not the object.” Each artist accomplishes this with very different approaches, interpretations and points of view.  

Doogan’s literal and realistic depiction of the human figure includes every imperfection of the flesh. She deals with the real body and in recent years she has explored and depicted the aging, naked body. In speaking about her work concerning the human figure, Doogan explains, “For years my paintings and drawings have been concerned with the representation of the human body. Not the Nude which is an art form, but the specific body that evidences the gravity and scars of time/experience. A life lived…the mutable corporal flesh.” Her process is focused and labor intensive. The way she positions the bodies in her work inform their reality and body language becomes both text and context. Doogan received a BFA in 1963 from Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, and a MA in animated film from UCLA in 1977. Her drawings and paintings have been exhibited in numerous solo and group venues and public collections across the country including The Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY; the Di Rosa Museum, Napa, CA; the San Antonio Museum, TX; and the Tucson Museum of Art. Articles and reviews of her work have appeared in several major publications.

Stewart believes there is in art no image more evocative that the human form. Her sculptural figures are rich in associative powers in both personal and universal ways. In explaining how her figures come about Stewart says, “Very little is predetermined. I have an idea about scale, stance and persona, the ‘self’ of the figure. This figure is elusive, like a shadow or a person dimly seen; it cannot be drawn on paper. It is held internally, as reference for a figure I wish to establish outside of myself.” Stewart has an MFA from the University of Illinois, and a BFA from Syracuse University. Her work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions, and public collections across the country. In 1990, after teaching in Florence Italy, she was awarded an art grant from the State of Florida to return to Italy. Her subject matter became influenced by the rich historical context of the country and by the sculptures. She has been a sculptor since then firing some pieces in clay and casting others in bronze. 

Yazzie focuses in the unique and complex systems connected to human existence. She grew up in Chinle, Arizona on the Navajo Reservation. She is from the Yucca Fruit-Strung-Out-In-A-Line Clan and is born for the Salt People Clan. Her large scale portraits of her mother, Rosita, explores the bond the two have, as well as the matriarchal element in many Native American tribes. Yazzie has a BFA in photography and a BA in art history from Arizona State University. Her photographs have been shown in numerous exhibitions locally and nationally and are in a number of public and private collections.

Caballero expresses a fascination with the male body and its ability to portray feeling. Rather than creating effects of conventional beauty, he sought to convey the intense eroticism of aggressively masculine figures. His works typically show male figures in contorted poses that suggest acute pain or passion. His drawings and paintings are intensely sensual and rendered in subdued tones of gray, black and red. Caballero (b.1943-d.1995) was a native of Columbia and studied at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá and at the Académie de La Grand Chaumière in Paris in 1963. His extensive body of work can be found in exhibitions, and collections worldwide.

Desiderio is often referred to as realist or postmodern history paintings. His paintings are both intimately photographic in detail and luminous with sensitively painted colors. “Characterized by drama and theatricality, his images join together in puzzling combinations to create allegories that seem unable to be decoded.” (Julie Sasse, chief curator, Tucson Museum of Art) Desiderio received a BA in fine art and art history from Haverford College. He studied for one year at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, Italy, and for four years at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He is a recipient of many grants and awards including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and two National Endowment for the Arts Grants. In 1996, he became the first American artist to receive the International Contemporary Art Prize awarded by the Prince Pierre Foundation of the Principality of Monaco. Desiderio’s works are included in many collections and venues across the country. 

McElroy draws realistic portrayals of the body, but with unfamiliar and scale-less graphics that challenge visual perceptions. In his drawings male hair patterns reference a trait that elicits conflicted, conventional and highly charge responses. According to McElroy, “Figure drawing is a Humanistic discipline in which the artist and the viewer engage in a struggle to bypass the cultural taboos against staring at others; and thus to really know themselves. After years of encouraging students to see what is actually before them rather than what they have been conditioned to expect, I have witnessed many times how transforming such experiences can be.” McElroy has a BA in Art from the University of North Texas, a MLA in art history and anthropology from Southern Methodist  University, and a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of New Mexico.