Two bodies of work exhibited in an official satellite site of Venice Biennale 2017, the oldest and arguably most prestigious visual arts event in the world, share close ties to the University of Colorado Boulder.
Joel Swanson, an assistant professor with the , and Laura Shill, a technician for Interdisciplinary Media Art Practices in the Department of Art and听Art History, both have installations in , a large-scale exhibition of the Venice Biennale, which runs through Nov. 26 at the Palazzo Bembo, located off the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Denver鈥檚 Black Cube, an experimental art museum that operates nomadically, is the primary sponsor for Personal Structures.
Photo by Morgan Rachel Levy
鈥淚t鈥檚 such an honor,鈥� says Swanson. 鈥淚 returned to Boulder encouraged that my work is on par with the other work I saw at the Biennale.鈥�
Swanson鈥檚 installation includes two, three-foot wide neon sculptures, 鈥淪/HE鈥� and 鈥淭/HERE.鈥� The neon letters are illuminated, but the inverted 鈥淪鈥� in S/HE听and the 鈥淭鈥� in T/HERE flicker on and off, challenging the tendency to perceive the world through binaries, such as male and female, Swanson says.
Shill鈥檚 installation, 鈥淭rophy Wall (to disguise the void),鈥� uses gold spandex draped over discarded soccer and basketballs, creating a luxurious tableaux in the darkened gallery that, upon closer inspection, reveals itself to be a cheap imitation. At the same time, the shiny fabric resembles a theatre curtain from which human figures, simultaneously veiled and revealed, emerge.
Shill says this work is about 鈥渃reating facades as monuments to greatness that are really about hiding insecurity, distracting ourselves from our fears, and trying to momentarily forget our own impermanence.鈥澨�
Black Cube regularly features pop-up听exhibits, but Venice Biennale represents the nonprofit鈥檚 first nomadic installation outside Colorado. Black Cube partnered with Dutch nonprofit for support.听 and 抖阴旅行射 Boulder鈥檚 also provided grant support to Swanson.
Swanson, who earned a BFA听in digital art from 抖阴旅行射 Boulder, has appeared nationally and internationally at venues such as the Broad Museum in Lansing, Michigan; The Power Plant in Toronto;听the North Miami Museum of Contemporary Art;听and Denver鈥檚 Museum of Contemporary Art, where he had a solo exhibition.
Later this summer, he opens another solo show, Sticks and Stones,听at David B. Smith Gallery in Denver that focuses on political speech. And his commissioned work can be found throughout Denver, including a wall-sized installation at the in Cherry Creek; a work in Twitter鈥檚 corporate office; and a collection of works for the soon-to-open in Denver, including 24 smaller pieces, four larger works听and a substantial听backlit, laser-cut aluminum wall to be mounted in the covered entrance outside the hotel.
Shill earned an MFA in interdisciplinary media arts practices from 抖阴旅行射 Boulder in 2012 and has exhibited her work nationally and internationally at the Yi Tong Bai Tong Gallery, Shang Hai, China; The Gallery Of Contemporary Art, Colorado Springs; Redline Gallery, Denver; 听and Hyperlink Gallery, Chicago. Her work was also presented in Denver鈥檚 Museum of Contemporary Art in a recent solo exhibition, Phantom Touch.
View both artists'听work online at and . To learn more about Venice Biennale, .
