“Nostalgia and outrage” is a state of mind. The title of this exhibition materialized when Mary
Fortuna and Adrian Hatfield sat down to talk about their lives, past and present, and the way
they make their work. Pairing the two ignited a mutual spark about their feelings concerning
our world and their attitudes towards greed, apathy, and the relief of absurdity in the face of
the changing conditions in which we all find ourselves. In viewing their work, we are invited to
experience veiled optimism in the face of the challenging array of life-changing social and
environmental circumstances affecting us. They impart the wisdom that we are not alone in our
universal outrage and nostalgia and that we still have the opportunity to make the sacrifices
that are required to foster a gentler, more healing world. So often these contexts appear
insurmountable, but here, in Fortuna’s fetishistic flourishes and Hatfield’s hallucinatory
slapstick harbingers, hope, humor, and despair are overlaid with their immersive, astute
metaphysical buoyancy.
Opening Reception
Thursday, December 7th, 5-7pm
Featuring
B.A Graphic Design: Marino Amato, David Carter, Carmen Corona, Sydney Coutilish, Ben Dack, Dani De Fortuny, Kyley DeFrancesco, Chad Eggleton, Allyson Hart, Carlos Jordan-Martinez, Jacob Kim, Lauren Lamberson, Amy Leslie, Caitlin Loxley-Smith, Jordan McDonald, Aria Meli, Joseph Morrison, Cole Mullens, Grace Nibler, Sydney Nikkel, Heather Opperthauser, Megan Parker, Alexis Pawlusiak, Chelsea Perry, Todd Petrocella, Veronica Pizzurro, Jeremiah Sanders, Barret Schettler, Fareeha Shameem, Brendan Smith, Ashley Sovel, Thuthuy Vu, Sean Whitaker, Cameron Wooley, Zhiqin Zhou.
B.A. Studio Art: Michael Bayer, Shaylyn DeForest, Kobe Fletcher, Kelsey Gee, Tara Johnson, Kaci Lewis, Jamie Miller, Nicole Musgrove, Faustine Quanstrom, Mari Tuck, Katelyn Wilks
September 8 – November 26, 2023
The Oakland University Art Gallery is honored to present the first mid-career retrospective of
Wendel A. White, a Distinguished Professor of Art and American Studies at Stockton University,
Galloway, New Jersey, whose work addresses the complex historical narrative of Black life in
the United States. Remains · Remnants · Reliquaries features four bodies of work created over
the last thirty-five years: Manifest (2009–present), Red Summer (2011–2019), Schools for the
Colored (2002–2012), and Small Towns, Black Lives (1989–2002). The exhibition attests to the
artist’s commitment to a research-based practice centered on African American history and
material culture, the broad range of physical evidence testifying to human activity and cultural
specificity. Always intent on folding the past into the present, White invites us to engage in a
process of remembrance and critical inquiry.
Claude Baillargeon, Curator
Three flagship events will accompany this exhibition:
-In Conversation. Wendel A. White in conversation with Kenya Tyson, JD, Executive Director, The Black Massacre Project.
Friday, September 8, 2023, 5 p.m.
Oakland University Art Gallery
Conversation to be followed by public reception and exhibition opening.
Event made possible by the generous support of the Barry M. Klein Center for Culture
and Globalization, with the assistance of the Department of Art and Art History.
-Braun Lecture. “An Artist Committed to History: Wendel A. White,” presentation by
Deborah Willis, PhD, University Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography
and Imaging at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
Thursday, September 28, 2023, 7 p.m.
Banquet Rooms A and B, Oakland Center
Event made possible by the generous support of the Jean S. and Fred M. Braun
Memorial Lecture Fund, the Department of Art and Art History, and the Division of
Student Affairs and Diversity.
-Panel Discussion. “Contemporary Photography and the Black Atlantic Diaspora.”
A two-part event opening with Dr. Kenneth Montague, a Toronto-based dentist, art
collector, and the founding director of Wedge Curatorial Projects, speaking about his
collection of Black Atlantic photography.
A panel discussion featuring Wendel A. White, Dr. Montague, and Samantha A. Noël, PhD, Associate Professor of Art History and the Hawkins Ferry Endowed Chair in Modern and Contemporary Art at Wayne State University, will follow.
Thursday, October 12, 2023, 7 p.m.
Oakland University Art Gallery
Event made possible by the generous support of The Judd Family Endowed Fund.
Opening Reception
Thursday, April 13th, 5-7pm
Featuring
B.A Graphic Design: Sebastiano Alia, Catherine Asburry, Sydney Berry, Tyler Boggess, Alexis Brohl, Catera Campbell, Hailey Christ, Isabel Christopher, Sierra Clark, Avery Corbeau, Gene Daniels, Kariann Deghetto, Micaela Frakes-Zieger, Jacqueline Gamache, Mackenzie Gabrysh, Kaitlyn Geer, Julia Geheb, Rachel Gilkinson, Rorry Gilkinson, Liam Hansen, Brianne Holt, Annie Huang, Ray Kenny, Lauren Kotowski, Joseph Martini, Dylan Mansour, Taylor Michael, Thomas Mitzel, Rachel Moilanen, Liv Murphy, Marissa Neely, Ryan Neubacher, Anz Niculescu, Sydney Nuckolls, Jackie Pagano, Reese Petruska, Sofia Portillo, Agnieszka Rachfal, Jessica Rusin, Lillia Stenger, Ashley Talbert, Claire Thomas, Kahrley Villarreal, Abigail Wakefield, Melissa Walters, Mitchell Williams, Shayna Wilson, Luke Winkler, Jennifer Wood.
B.A. Studio Art: Audrey VanHouten, Sydney Coutilish, Emily Iatrou, Trisha Morris, Tina Eva Pietrzyk, Andrea Jones.
Faculty Exhibition, Department of Art & Art History
January 12 –April 2, 2023
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 12, 4:30-7pm
Featuring: Claude Baillargeon, Meaghan Barry, Lindsey Camelio, Dho Yee Chung, Setareh Ghoreishi, Dick Goody, David Lambert, Colleen Ludwig, Karen McGarry, Maria Smith Bohannon, Ryan Standfest, Cody VanderKaay
Opening Reception
Friday, December 2nd, 5-7pm
Featuring
B.A. Graphic Design: Marisa Conley, Brianna Ellis, Paris Folsom, Elizabeth Foster, Justina Hays, Phan Ngoc Long Huynh, Emily Iatrou, Jonathan Malski, Isabelle Marton, Aaliyah Moore, Jacklyn Neville, Caitlyn O’Leary, Abigail Pace, Hailey Pilarowski, Jewel Pippin, Ashley Robins, Matthew Ross, Katelyn Sandy, Emily Sesko, Emily Wilshaw
B.A. Studio Art: Marwa Alshayeb, Lizzy Clancy, Aspen DeMonaco, Bri Hayes, Rebecca McCulloch, Kai Medcoff, Trang Nguyen
Featuring works by: Derrick Adams, Joseph Beuys, Katherine Bradford, Edward Burtynsky, Naoya Hatakeyama, Georg Herold, Barbara Kruger, Robert Longo, David Maisel, Tony Matelli, Carlos Motta, Robin Rhode, Wilhelm Sasnal, David Shrigley, Ai Weiwei.
Curated by Leo Barnes
Exhibition opening reception is September 9, 2022, 5-7pm.
Critical Voices: Selections from The Hall Art Collection
I think art is the only political power, the only revolutionary power, the only evolutionary power, the only power to free humankind from all repression. I say not that art has already realized this, on the contrary, and because it has not, it has to be developed as a weapon, at first there are radical levels, then you can speak about special details.
– Joseph Beuys
“The Role of Documentation in Conceptual Art: An Aesthetic Inquiry,” by Robert C. Morgan, 1978.
In alluding to political power and freedom from repression, in the context of this exhibition, Joseph Beuys, presciently, believed that whatever negative stimuli becomes pervasive, artists must weaponize their response. Viewing media and technology pejoratively, as a deluge of oppression is but one perception. Another, of course, is that it shrinks and opens up the world.
Like artists from any period, those in this exhibition offer a critical analysis of their epoch. The images have an explicit awareness of the effects of new technologies on both the media and message of their agency. The first decade of the 21st century, from which these artists are drawn, familiarized the internet, social media, and smartphones to mass users. Through this filter, these artists transcribed their work. A decade or so on, the massive, initial flood of hi-tech media that starkly influenced their work makes their messaging appear blunt, unemotional, practical, and often, sardonic.
Acting like an enchanter, Joseph Beuys is the fulcrum for this project. In following his example, these artists mesh with politics, the environment, and what they perceive as social, moral, and cultural crises. Their blatancy forces the viewer to feel the jolt of their messaging. Some entertain, others prefer a more disturbing and uncomfortable stance. All emit an uneasy critique of the repressive inundation of information as they were experiencing it for the first time.
Made possible by the Hall Foundation and Art Bridges.
Opening Reception
Friday, April 15th, 5-7pm
Featuring
B.A. Graphic Design Katherine Burgess, Ellie Dessy, Abigail Fitch, Alexis Jackson, Dustin Keel, Colleen Moore, Rosalia Riccobono, Collin Syerson, Maggie Wen, Sara Ceamin, Joseph DiFranco, John Grui, Tiffany Johnson, Gavin Lacy, Stefano Moriconi, Logan Robenault, Tyler Tedeschi, Kelsey Weyland, Logan Childers, Marco DiMelis’ Alexandra Heussner, Carlye Johnson, Noah Lambert, Catherine Noonan, Toma Sidny, Ian Thompson, Olivia Consiglio, Pearl Fakhoury, Alisa Imamura, Ornela Jorgji, Carolina Landeros, Justin Prior, Tyler Smith,Tracy Suchyta.
B.A. Studio Art Rachel Ammons, Bree Black, Vincent Cervantez, Brandon Dinverno, Charli Edelmann, Hannah Genn, Madeline Hagey, Heather Hamade, Samantha Rea, Symone Wilkins.
Featuring: Mary Ellen Bartley, Peter Bialobrzeski, Markus Brunetti, Lucas Foglia, Cig Harvey, Jacqueline Hassink, Erik Madigan Heck, Pieter Hugo,Joshua Lutz, Michael Massaia, Jeffrey Milstein, Zanele Muholi, Christopher Payne, Toshio Shibata, Raïssa Venables.
“Certain photographs possess something indisputably allusive, oblique, and enigmatic. Our most poignant connection to these paradoxical images occupies part of our consciousness away from the bluntness of a direct narrative or incident. In the territory of meditative allusions, the artists in this exhibition convey their subjects without directly unveiling them.
Photography is thriving, but in a different way than before. We used to preserve our treasured paper snapshots in photo albums, but today, smartphone images have become digital ephemera. Incalculable numbers of them are taken only to be forgotten. Photography exhibitions like this give us pause to reconsider the aesthetic grandeur of a printed-out, permanent, archivable image.
In no way a conceptual concern, these rarified images are nothing if not transcendental. They have to be seen to be believed on the scale that the maker intended —seen, shared, and discussed in-person, in a world that has become increasingly virtual and illusory. This discourse, and the way we value the unique purposelessness of allusive representations, is a universal, palpable, celebratory experience.”
Dick Goody, Curator
Dr. Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, President of Oakland University, is a pediatric endocrinologist. She was the Eli Lilly Company’s Senior Vice President and U.S. Medical Leader for Lilly Biomedicines, and before that, Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and Health System CEO at the University of Michigan. Prior to that, she spent 21 years at Indiana University, where she was a member of the faculty, Executive Associate Dean for Research, CEO of Riley Hospital for Children and Vice President for Research.
However, before her ascent to academic and professional leadership, she started out as a student at Northwestern University. It was there that she met her husband, Mark Pescovitz, in 1974. As the son of an artist and a surgeon, he found a way to meld his interests but also mirror his parents’ path. By the time these two aspiring scientists were married in 1979, he had begun to amass a small art collection.
Dr. Mark Pescovitz, who died in 2010, was a Professor of Microbiology/Immunology and director of the transplant immunology laboratory at Indiana University School of Medicine. Together, Mark and Ora Hirsch Pescovitz raised three children and built a life committed to the investigation of curiosity, investment in community, and stewardship of education. Their united commitment to science, art, and culture meets at the intersection of this exhibition and is strongly reflected in the works they chose to collect.
This exhibition includes works by: Yaacov Agam, Garo Zareh Antresian, Nancy Morgan Barnes, Robert Berkshire, Michael Berman, Christyl Boger, Philip H. Campbell, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Chuck Close, James L. Cunningham, James Wille Faust, Mark Flinkinger, Miquel Gelabert, Sam Gilliam, Janis G. Goodman, Elizabeth Guipe Hall, Felrath Hines, Tom Keesee, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jeanette May, Peter Milton, Louis Pasteur, Mark Pescovitz, Judy Pfaff, Ronald Cohen-Rozencohn, Ivan Schwebel, Constance Edwards Scopelitus, Ivan Sizonenko, John Torreano, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Mary Lou Dooley Waller.
Curated by Dick Goody
Opening Reception: Friday, September 10, 5-7pm