This exhibit will be displayed on the second floor of Argyros Forum and will take place from February 28, 2019 through September 20, 2019.

 

At Chapman University creativity and innovation are part of every learning opportunity. Whether students and faculty are collaborating on an art installation, writing a screenplay, composing a film score, exploring quantum physics, or creating a business plan, they benefit from being surrounded by inspirational works of art. “New Looks: Recent Acquisitions from the Escalette Collection” displays contemporary pieces from our new acquisitions in the Phyllis and Ross Escalette Permanent Collection of Art. This exhibit allows our students to be exposed to modern art. It includes a diverse range of exciting new artists who use sculpture, photographs, tissue paper, and neon to bring fresh perspectives to life.

 

Ana Serrano is a first-generation Mexican American artist. Her art is inspired by the intersection of her cultural identities. Serrano is captivated with how residents alter and adorn their dwellings, and she uses vibrant color to represent these environments. These works highlight the socio-cultural and architectural elements of urban life in Latino neighborhoods in LA. The houses made out of cardboard and other materials represent Serrano’s Latina heritage, as well as the natural and man-made elements of urban life.

Maya Freelon is an award-winning African American artist who is best known for her lively, colorful sculptures. Much of her work is made out of tissue paper. Maya Angelou described her work as “visualizing the truth about the vulnerability and power of the human being.” In this monoprint, Freelon uses the technique of slowly dripping water onto tissue paper, allowing its color to bleed. Freelon’s tissue paper art represents the connection between fragility and strength.

 

 

Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst are creators, most widely known for producing the Emmy-­winning Amazon series “Transparent.” Their work is inherently political, but they shy away from didacticism, instead focusing on sexuality and intimacy. These works are from a body of work called Relationship– a series of dreamlike photographs that document the romantic partnership of Drucker and Ernst over the course of five years. The pictures were not originally intended to be displayed, but the two found that they gave a creative insight into the lives of transgender people. The photographs are meant to document the process of both of their transitions.

 

 

 

Patrick Martinez is an LA-based artist. He uses many different media including painting, neon, ceramic, and sculpture. Many of his works are influenced by hip hop culture and graffiti. He sees his art as straightforward, while simultaneously being reimagined. He brings what he calls “sublime beauty” to things that aren’t thought of as conventionally beautiful. His work expresses elements of the city that are often overlooked and much of his work tells a socially-inspired message.

 

Millie Wilson focuses on surrealism and minimalism to create works that, she says, tell “a secret history of modernity informed by queer sexuality, femininity, race and class.” She uses these multiple forms of identity in her work by using parody, symbolism, and humor. Her multi-media work explores provoking, disturbing, and humorous connections between historical art styles and cultural stereotypes about the body, desire, identity, and pathology.