UWM thesis exhibition makes the grade

Through Dec. 12, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee graduate thesis exhibits can be seen at the Inova/Arts Center. The fall exhibition, which works double time as students’ final exams and a free visual arts display, features creations by Tony Conrad and C. Matthew Luther. Also on view are works by Joseph R. Weber.

In Tony Conrad’s exhibit Way Down North, he portrays the experiences of growing up in Northern Wisconsin en route to becoming the man (and artist) he is today. A Peck School of the Arts release says, “Conrad’s play of high/low cultural references radiate a retinal experience that can be associated with the principles of camouflage and the euphoric experience of hunting.” In his work, you observe visual components of social stereotypes and oddities in outdoorsman culture.

C. Matthew Luther’s Trace Disturbances looks at the inner workings of the mind’s dream factory. “My paintings seek to connect dreams and imagery created in the subconscious sleeping world of the human mind with the visual imagery of a conscious waking world,” observes Luther. As a vivid dreamer himself, he uses collage, color and texture to create what he calls “mentalscapes” that allow him to capture fleeting imagery.

Joseph R. Weber’s installation, Sedimentation, utilizes minimalist sculpture and river waters to record and absorb society’s runoff. Lighting is used to draw attention to the impurities of the water as it settles. “The piece is a metaphor for accrued experience. Its contents are contradictions: present and fleeting, luminous and obscured, nurturing and contaminating, filtered through time,” says Weber,  who was once a competitive swimmer.

MA/MFA Thesis Exhibition
Inova/Arts Center
Now through Dec. 12

2400 East Kenwood Blvd. (2nd floor of the Arts Center)
Tuesdays – Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Free and open to the public