Students of Minnesota State University, Mankato present Afterthought, an exhibition at the 410 Project Gallery in Mankato featuring works of art selected from the university’s permanent collection as well as from abandoned and unfinished works left behind by former students.
Curated by MSU students studying the art exhibition and museum collecting process, this unique show calls into question the value and meaning of art and how this changes in relationship to ownership and abandonment.
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Works featured in Afterthought include sculpture, printmaking, ceramic, painting, drawing, photography, and installation by students, faculty, alumni, and friends of the university. Opening reception for Afterthought is Friday, April 20th from 7:00 – 9:00 pm. All are welcome.
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Afterthought is open to the public and will be on display from April 20th – May 5th, 2018.
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STATEMENT
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There are hundreds of works of art hanging from walls and ceilings throughout the MSU campus. Paintings, prints, photographs, watercolors, sculptures, statues, fiber works, and installations – works by talented students, alumni, and successful faculty, and gifts of generous friends received by the campus over the past 150 years. These officially installed works grace the spaces we visit every day, yet how many of us have noticed them? They’ve become an afterthought, art brought in to fill empty spaces.
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Similarly, this campus has acquired a number of works unofficially “installed” on campus: unglazed ceramics, half-finished paintings, deconstructed sculptures – works devalued by their makers as they were cast aside and long forgotten after graduation.
The remarkable mixture of official and unofficial works in this exhibition speaks to art’s meaning and significance, or lack thereof. Whether formally hung on a wall next to a descriptive placard in the CSU or abandoned on a dusty shelf in the Nelson Hall ceramic studio, these works challenge our sense of art’s definition and value, as well as the role of acquisition in this campus community. How is the value of art determined?
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