We are in mysterious contact with the powers besieging us, ready to call forth a miracle

February 4, 2017 – April 1, 2017

February 4 - April 1, 2017

516 ARTS hosted the Juried UNM Graduate Art Exhibition in the downstairs gallery. Produced by the UNM Graduate Art Association and juried by Candice Hopkins, this exhibition was in celebration of 516 ARTS’ collaborative relationship and UNM College of Fine Arts and its community outreach programs.

 Hopkins says, “There is potential in fragments and there is possibility in pieces and in parts. As stand-ins for the whole, they offer new narratives created out of the freedom of improvisation. On view are many parts. There is a pair of lithe hands piercing a window blind; a piece of a multi-coloured tapestry; a video of a woman repeated the words ‘sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry…;’ banners for a party that never materializes; bits of sunburned skin; peeling wallpaper; and parts of houses seemingly conjured from beneath salty surfaces.

Along with fragments there are also portraits, none of which are straightforward. Some portraits look as though they are visible because of digital interference, others picture the anxiety of our age: ‘put money in banks that align with your beliefs;’ yet others are produced through memory—the open door of a familiar bedroom—and the remainder are made visible by their traces, a golden print of body hair and three letters in the Cherokee syllabary made of thin thread.

The philosopher Walter Benjamin once wrote that ‘finished works weigh lighter than [the] fragments.’ The works at the beginning of each artists’ career are heavy with intent. Necessarily so. Collectively, they offer glimpses into other worlds, and at their best, reveal insights into ourselves, as well.”



ARTISTS: 

Katelyn Bladel, Alivia Magaña, 
Marcie Rose Brewer, Earl McBride, 
Mick Burson, Kristen Roles, 
Rusty Ayrton Chapman, Teena Lee Ryan, 
Rachel Donovan, Sallie Scheufler, 
Eugene Ellenberg, Nick Simko
, Erin Fussell, Kacie Erin Smith, 
Erin Galvez, Zac Travis
, Lara Goldman, Ariel C. Wilson and 
Amy Johnson.

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Candice Hopkins is originally from Whitehorse, Yukon and is a citizen of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation. She is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico and is curatorial advisor for the forthcoming documenta 14, which will be held in Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany in 2017. She is formerly Chief Curator at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts and has held curatorial positions at the National Gallery of Canada, the Western Front, and the Walter Phillips Gallery. Hopkins received her MA from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College. 

The University of New Mexico Graduate Art Association (GAA) represents graduate students of the Department of Art and Art History to the greater UNM and New Mexico communities. The organization is run entirely by elected graduate students, with the guidance of appointed Faculty Advisors. Their mission is to provide special opportunities for AAH graduate students and enrich their overall experience at UNM. They also serve as an advocate for AAH graduate students and as a liaison between the student body, faculty and student government.