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By Jamie Hendrix-Chupa, Exhibition Interpreter and Content Manager
SOU Theatre Class of '27
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Hello all! Thank you so much for your support as we enter our 40th year of being a part of the diverse creative community of Southern Oregon. To celebrate, we invite you to join us for the opening reception for this year's Southern Oregon University Art Faculty and Staff exhibition, "Pursuit of Happiness". "Pursuit of Happiness" is the SOU campus theme this year, put forth by the humanities program as it relates to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The opening reception will take place in the museum galleries on Thursday, January 29th, from 5-7 pm, with complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres. This will mark the first time since 2019 that the Schneider has exhibited faculty and staff work, and we are grateful to be collaborating again with these multitalented and hardworking educators. In reflection of the phrase "Pursuit of Happiness", these artists have provided statement responses regarding freedom, happiness, leadership, and humanity. Check our website for more info, and please join us at the opening of our faculty exhibition!
| | Piet Mondrian, Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow, 1930, oil on canvas | | |
Dutch Abstract painter Piet Mondrian is regarded as one of the pioneers of the abstract art movement. His style evolved over the years from figurative pieces to abstract color blocking, until his style language became as the above painting, black and bold lines surrounding primary and white squares. Mondrian believed art to be higher than reality, and used it is a spiritual tool to search for universal human truths. Though the content of his art may at times seem simple or obvious, there is always a deeper meaning behind his primary polygons. Currently at the Schneider, Mondrian's painting Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue is on display in the Entry Gallery. This is part of a series of Composition paintings that share the same style, where the artist explored diluting colors, only to find that he preferred using primaries. Read more about Piet Mondrian, his life, and his creative process at the link below. And visit the Schneider to see a Mondrian painting for yourself, on display for a limited time in our Entry Gallery!
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/03/the-mysteries-of-mondrian-hans-janssen-piet-mondrian-a-life
| | Miles Inada, Diptych, 2025, Stills from the game "Arms and Ether: Illuminated by the Sun", Courtesy of the artist | | |
Video games are enjoyed by a wide range of people, from those nostalgic for Pac-Man to those who are young and just finding community in the new and expansive digital world. This makes them among the most lucrative art forms, though it is easy to mentally remove them from the "art" world because of their unique nature. They aren't something you go to see at a theatre or a gallery; they are experiences that players make their own. However, that has changed within the last decade. In 2012, the Smithsonian ran an exhibition called "The Art of Video Games" that showcased eighty exemplary video games from the late 70s up until 2012. These games had a wide range of styles, from the early 8-bit form of the original Legend of Zelda (1986) to the detailed 3-D environments and depth of Quantic Dream's title Heavy Rain (2010), for example. Like in fine art, video games can be abstract, naturalist, surrealist, or expressionist, and in fact, many combine these elements for deep and interesting storytelling. An artist who explores the realm of video games is Miles Inada, an SOU professor who teaches 2-D and 3-D animation as a part of the Emerging Media and Digital Arts program. Inada's work on display in the exhibition "Pursuit of Happiness" includes stills from his video game (pictured above) and 3-D printed characters that were created with the help of his students.
Read more about the art of video games in this article from Hyperallergic below, and check out Miles Inada's work in "Pursuit of Happiness", on view until March 14th.
https://hyperallergic.com/tracing-the-interconnectedness-of-art-and-video-games/
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