Cara Tomlinson, Born With, 2011, oil on wood, 16 x 20 inches

Cara Tomlinson’s exhibit of paintings and installation opens May 7 in Fairbanks Gallery, on the Oregon State University campus.

Tomlinson’s recent painting is concerned with the process of construction: how houses, paintings and bodies are made. In these works, paint conceals and covers over but also creates the illusion of an opening and space, transforming familiar boundaries into the unfamiliar. Her continuing body of work is motivated by questions about the construction of self, boundaries of subjectivity, and the interconnection of self and environment.

Cara Tomlinson has exhibited her work nationally in museums and galleries. She has received numerous national artist residency fellowships as well as an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission. She has lectured on her work at many universities and colleges, including Carnegie Mellon, University of Montana and University of Iowa. In the last few years, the breadth of Tomlinson’s studio practice has expanded to include not just painting, but drawing, video installation, and sculpture—work she undertakes with a shared material and philosophical approach taken from painting.

Currently Tomlinson lives and works in Portland, where she teaches painting at Lewis and Clark College. She earned her undergraduate degree from Bennington College and her M.F.A. from the University of Oregon.

Fairbanks Gallery is free and open to the public Monday–Thursday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., and Fridays from 8 a.m.-noon. The exhibit ends May 30.

~ Douglas Russell

Luba Lukova, Censorship, Social Justice series

Social Justice and Other Works, an exhibit of original illustrations by Luba Lukova opens Oct.12 in Fairbanks Hall, on the Oregon State University campus.

The exhibition will present a wide range of work including Lukova’s critically acclaimed Social Justice poster portfolio. In January 2009 the Health Coverage poster, which is a part of the collection, was in a prestigious exhibit at the Inauguration of President Obama in Washington, DC.

Internationally recognized, New York based Luba Lukova is regarded as one of the most distinctive image-makers working today. Whether by using an economy of line, color, and text to pinpoint essential themes of the human condition or to succinctly illustrate social commentary, her work is undeniably powerful and thought provoking.

A recent review in The Boston Globe observes: “Luba Lukova’s posters and illustrations have punch, and they are laced with such feeling that they often merit a second look. Her work doesn’t wrestle with the classic riddles of high art. It is, as graphic art should be, strong and pithy but its messages are not always simple.”

Luba Lukova, Income Gap, Social Justice series

Lukova has won many awards including ICOGRADA Excellence Award; Grand Prix Savignac at the International Poster Salon, Paris, France; the Golden Pencil Award at the One Club, New York; and Honor Laureate at the International Poster Exhibition in Fort Collins, CO. Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at UNESCO, Paris; DDD Gallery, Osaka, Japan; and The Art Institute of Boston, and La MaMa La Galleria. She has received commissions for her work from the The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, Adobe Systems, Sony Music, and Harvard University. Her evocative theatre posters have graced numerous stage productions in the US and Europe. Lukova’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Bibliotheque Nationale de France.

Fairbanks Gallery is open weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibit concludes on Nov. 4.

For more information: Douglas Russell 541-737-5009 or drussell@oregonstate.edu
Or see http://oregonstate.edu/fairbanksgallery