ARTSpeak Lecturer: Chie Fueki

On Thursday, March 31, 2011, the artist Chie Fueki will give a talk on her artwork and her life. The talk will take place from 2:30 to 3:30 pm in FIT’s Katie Murphy Amphitheatre, in the D Building, at 27th Street and Seventh Avenue.

Fueki’s intricate and colorful paintings interweave images from diverse cultures and customs, from motifs often present in traditional Japanese art, to images of American athletes. Folk art, textiles, and patterning are also strong visual influences on her work. Each one of Fueki’s paintings is composed of paper collage, graphite rubbing, colored pencil, and washes and beads of paint, creating a brocade-like skin on the painting’s surface.

Now living in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and Brooklyn, NY, Fueki was born in Japan, and was raised in Brazil.

Her next solo show will be featured at the Mary Boone Gallery, at 745 Fifth Avenue, between E. 57 and E. 58 Streets, in New York City. Fueki has had numerous solo gallery exhibitions, as well as being featured in many group shows, including PS1’s 2005 installment of the Greater New York exhibition.

Her page on the Mary Boone website: www.maryboonegallery.com/artist_info/fueki_info.html

Watch her talk at FIT here:

 

Josh, 72 x 96 inches, 2010, Acrylic and mixed media on paper and wood, by Chie Fueki

Chie Fueki at work

ARTSpeak Lecturer: Wangechi Mutu

Artist Wangechi Mutu will give a talk on her work and life on Tuesday, February 15, 2011, from 1 to 2 pm, in the Katie Murphy Amphitheatre. The Amphitheatre is located in the Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center (also known as the “D” Building), 27th Street and 7th Avenue, at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Kenya-born Wanechi Mutu creates compelling and intricate artworks containing painted and collaged images, often using female figures constructed with photographic fragments of idealized women collected from print magazines. Her visually complex work can also be seen as a critique of the portrayal of black women as either tribal aborigines or hypersexualized pinups.

Mutu’s artwork has been exhibited extensively in the U.S. and abroad. Her most recent solo shows include Hunt Bury Flee at the Gladstone Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, My Dirty Little Heaven at the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany, and the Wiels Contemporary Museum, Brussels, Belgium, and This You Call Civilization? at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada. She has won numerous awards including the Deutsche Guggenheim Artist of the Year for 2010, a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant, and a Cooper Union Urban Visionaries Emerging Talent Award.

You can watch the video of Wangechi Mutu’s lecture at FIT here:

 

You can find out more about Wangechi’s artwork by going to her website:  http://www.wangechimutu.com/

Wangechi Mutu, Before Punk Came Funk, 2010, Mixed media, ink, paint, collage on mylar, 54 x 51 inches

Wangechi Mutu, photo by Flora Hanitijo

ARTSpeak Lecturer: Nayland Blake

Nayland Blake gave a talk on his life and work on Tuesday, November 2, from 1:30 to 2:30 pm, in the Katie Murphy Amphitheatre.

An artist, writer, curator, and educator, Nayland Blake addresses issues of his own racially mixed background, sexual identity, and body identity. His work is included in the collections of MoMA, the Whitney Museum, the Studio Museum of Harlem, LA MoCa, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, among others. In 1994 he curated the exhibition, In a Different Light, the first major museum exhibition to examine the impact of queer artists on contemporary art. He is represented by Matthew Marks Gallery.

He is currently the Chair of the International Center of Photography – Bard College Program in Advanced Photographic Studies in New York City.

You can watch the video of Nayland Blakes lecture at FIT here:

You can find out more about Nayland Blake by linking to the following sites:

The artist’s blog: http://www.naylandblake.net/

The Matthew Marks website: http://www.matthewmarks.com/artists/nayland-blake/

Nayland Blake, video still from Starting Over, 2000.

Nayland Blake, video still from Starting Over, 2000

Nayland Blake at home in Brooklyn, NY.

Nayland Blake at home in Brooklyn, NY

Nayland Blake, Feeder 2, 1998.

Nayland Blake, Feeder 2, 1998, Gingerbread and steel, 7 by 10 by 7 feet, photo: Larry Qualls

The First ARTSpeak Lecturer: David Diao

The first ARTSpeak lecture will feature artist David Diao. He will be speaking on Monday, October 4, from 6:30 to 7:30 pm, in FIT’s Katie Murphy Amphitheatre, in the Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center (also known as the “D Building”). The building’s entrance is on the northwest corner of 7th Avenue and 27th Street.

David Diao was born in China, and emigrated to the U.S. at the age of twelve. Diao is an influential painter and teacher, whose work melds personal and art historical references. His 2009 New York solo exhibition was based on his return to his childhood home in Chengdu and finding it destroyed. Through the use of text, drawing, images, and painterly surfaces, his work explores the intersection of the history of art, culture, and personal meaning.

David Diao, Slanted MoMA, 1995, Vinyl and acrylic on canvas, 46 x 70 inhces.

David Diao, Slanted MoMA, 1995, Vinyl and acrylic on canvas, 46 x 70 inches

David Diao in Dessau, Germany, 2009

David Diao in Dessau, Germany, 2009.

David Diao, Odd Man Out, 1974, Acrylic on canvas, 90 x 84 inches

David Diao, Odd Man Out, 1974, Acrylic on canvas, 90 x 84 inches