To celebrate the completion of his course work and to finalize his thesis, graduate painting student Brett Callero offers “Sometimes Almost Always,”an exhibition consisting of mixed-media paintings, a large-scale collage installation and a computer generated installation with dozens of conceptual sketches. As Callero plans to return to his hometown of Chicago after winter quarter, “Sometimes Almost Always” is the final opportunity to view work completed by the artist while he is a student at SCAD.

“I am a mixed-media artist in both the literal and figurative sense,” said Callero. “Since I am coming completely from a postmodern point of view, the journey is as important as the destination. In other words, the process is as important as anything visually tangible … By referencing pop culture, the vernacular and my own personal life experience, I create original work in order to manipulate it and create it again… Comprehensive documentation of the originals with a digital camera and computer programs are integral parts of the process. Ultimately everything becomes a perpetual cycle of recontextualization — like a self-propelled engine.”

According to Callero, culture is increasingly manufactured by society. “Therefore we only know how to rediscover and reinvent through our contradictory and hypocritical natures,” he said. “Knowledge is rarely acquired from personal experience or interaction. Instead we learn from mediated imagery and filtered information custom made for whatever demographic market we fit into. By revealing the free association of information present throughout the creative process I investigate the shifting properties of meaning through context.”

To that end, Callero relies heavily on mediated imagery, evidenced by the blurred lines between painting, drawing and photography in the artist’s work. “The further manipulation of mediated imagery in order to redefine is the core of all of my work,” he said. “My thesis show is an opportunity to display the entire spectrum of my concepts — from installation to finished paintings. I consider my paintings to be products of the process, so this is an ideal exhibition because it includes all the elements that lead up to a remake, a final piece.”

Although Callero expressed a desire for positive audience reaction, he said he would gladly accept a negative response as well. “That means they were actually looking,” he said. “I want people to look and think of things a little differently than usual — just different for themselves, not in any particular way. The point is realizing that definitions are flexible and therefore unstable. This is reinforced by the narratives each person will write for themselves as they view the work.”

“Sometimes Almost Always” will be on display at aquaspace, 11 W. York Lane, Jan. 17-23. A reception will be held Jan. 17, 6-9:30 p.m.

“When I was little I made shoes out of paper” by Sari Gunderson will be on display Jan. 17-20 at 409 E. Liberty St.


Gunderson surfaces
For two years, graduate fibers student Sari Gunderson has had what she referred to as the freedom to make whatever she has wanted to make. She described her upcoming exhibition as the result of returning to and simplifying past creation.

“Ultimately, I see most of the work I’ve made in the last few years as a treatment for a surface — a wall, a floor, etc. — made from straightforward materials like paper and wire,” she said. “The forms are simple, and they’re repeated. When grouped together, they have the ability to activate a surface that would otherwise be plain. I think the most effective decoration is sometimes the simplest.”

Although Gunderson admitted that the repetitive process required for completing one of her treatments is often quite tedious, she contends that the grandness of the outcome is as much a product of size as it is of obviously invested time in the project.

“The idea is that a simple idea, when repeated a lot, at a large scale, can gain power,” she said.

Sari Gunderson’s exhibition is Jan. 17-20 at 409 E. Liberty St. A reception will be held Jan. 17, 7-10 p.m.