Events

Computer Aided is an exhibition examining the impact technology has on current art making practices and contemporary culture. Photography, video, painting, code and algorithm art, and other “new” media are showcased. The exhibition addresses how new technologies allow individuals and smaller institutions to take part in cultural dialogs that are often exclusive to large influential institutions. This theme is reflected by the acquisition of art for the exhibition from s[edition], a website selling digital artworks by artists who are otherwise beyond the Masur’s means. To underpin this concept of hierarchy and increased ease of communication with technology, Computer Aided also features a variety of artists at different points in their careers who live and work throughout the United States and world. Computer Aided also explores how artists use technology as the basis for creating their art. The exhibiting artists are Keliy Anderson-Staley (AR), Joshua Chambers (LA), Harold Cohen (CA), Mat Collishaw (UK), Craig Damrauer (LA), Hasan Elahi (MD), Shepard Fairey (CA), Damien Hirst (UK), Jenny Holzer (NY), John Rodriguez (LA), Marni Shindelman & Nate Larson (GA & MD), Jes Schrom & Graham Simpson (IL), Kate Shannon (OH), and Bill Viola (CA). Additionally, Activision & Toys for Bob will present a gallery dedicated to their blockbuster video game Skylanders Giants. The artists’ interests include the mingling of historic and contemporary art-making processes, technological infrastructure, automated or repetitive processes, surveillance, code or algorithm art, mass production, interactivity, site specificity, craft, the act of viewing and interpreting images, and more. This diverse group of exhibiting artists, drawn together by their common interest in technology, allows museum visitors to take stock of newer art forms as well as evaluate technology’s potential impact on culture in broad terms.

The Masur Museum of Art’s Annual Juried Competition showcases contemporary artists throughout the United States of America working in any medium. The 49th Annual Juried Competition featured 72 works of art from 23 states. This year’s Juror is George T.M. Shackelford, Senior Deputy Director of the Kimbell Art Museum. Most recently he co-curated the exhibition Degas and the Nude with Xavier Rey, Curator of Paintings at the Musée d’Orsay while serving as Chair of Art of Europe at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Exhibiting artists include, Buket Savci Atature, Long Island City, NY  Douglas Barrett, Birmingham, AL Cindy Blair, Pineville, LA Denise Bossarte, Houston, TX Marie Bukowski, Ruston, LA Hsiu Ching Yu, Commerce, TX Brandy Coons, Longmont, CO Phillip Counselman, Fairhope, AL Adele L. Crawford, Oakland, CA Al Denyer, Salt Lake City, UT Terri Garland, Soquel, CA Cindy Gibson, Ruston, LA Gary Guinigundo, Monroe, LA Frank Hamrick, Ruston, LA Adrian Hatfield, Ferndale, MI Anne Herrero, San Anselmo, CA Jedediah Johnson, Chicago, IL Mary Anna Keshen, Santa Fe, NM Glen Kessler, Rockville, MD Meghan Kirkwood, Sewanee, TN Connie D.K. Lane, Long Beach, CA Doug McAbee, Laurens, SC Rachul McClintic, Bossier City, LA Christopher McEvoy, Oswego, NY Peter Milder, Alexandria, LA Johnny Naked, Pasadena, CA Judith Peck, Vienna, VA Lisa Qualls, Houston, TX Laura Rusnak, Worthington, OH Justine Serebrin, New Orleans, LA Manju Shandler, Brooklyn, NY Paul Sisson, Broomfield, CO Eduardo, Sarmiento, Miami, FL William Stoehr, Boulder, CO Eva Struble, San Diego, CA Diana Synatzske, Ruston, LA David Mazure & The MMXII Collective, East Stroudsburg, PA Colin Todd, Queens, NY Christopher Troutman, Charleston, IL Mia Weiner, Baltimore, MD Caroline Youngblood, Columbia, LA

This exhibition features the Canadian sculptor Shayne Dark. His work examines the difference between spaces directly created and administered by mankind and those that exist separately or on their margins. Dark’s work exists in both realms by using materials such as natural looking wood and theatrically colored paint. The dialog created between viewers of his sculptures and the spaces they occupy prompts a thoughtful investigation of Man’s existence within nature.