We are pleased to announce the launch of a new collaborative project, Love, Peace, Dreams, and Bombs. This project pairs the exhibition of artwork by UCSB MFA student Yumiko Glover, alongside talks in related fields by students and scholars A. Colin Raymond (Art History), Carl Gabrielson (EALCS), Sabine Früstück (EALCS), and Travis Seifman (History), as well as video interviews conducted by activist Naoya Matsushima. A collaborative expression through art, scholarship, and activism, the aim of Love, Peace, Dreams, and Bombs is to promote more complex and globally-situated understandings of Japan.
Talks and Q&A will take place on Wednesday, March 1, from 2-3:30pm at the MultiCultural Center Theater, followed by an opening reception from 4-7pm at the Glass Box Gallery (ARTS 1326). Glover's artwork will be on display from February 27 - March 3. However, three of the the people involved in this collaborative project will be making a special presentation in Art 1A Visual Literacy on Tuesday, February 28, 2017.
This collaborative project is sponsored by the UCSB Department of Art, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies, the East Asia Center, and the MultiCultural Center.
About Love, Peace, Dreams and Bombs,
This project was born of everyday interactions among friends and colleagues. We are artists, scholars, and activists, and each of us engages in different disciplinary approaches to and conversations with Japanese culture and society. In Yumiko Glover's art, however, we found a point at which our distinct interests in history, identity, media, globalization, theory, and politics overlap. By exploring these connections, we came to see that our works, when presented together, offer the audience more than what each of us could supply alone. The end result is *Love, Peace, Dreams, and Bombs*, an experiment in collaborative expression which through art, scholarship, and activism promotes more complex and globally-situated understandings of Japan.
ART 1A EVENTS:
Art 1A Presentation: Tuesday, February 28 from 3:30-4:45 (Chem. 1171)
Art Exhibition: Thursday, March 2 from 3:30-4:45 in the Glass Box Gallery (Arts 1326)
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:
YUMIKO GLOVER
www.yumikoglover.com
Yumiko Glover's artwork draws inspiration from her real-life experiences growing up in Hiroshima, Japan. She observes its society and culture as an artist living in the United States. In her current body of work entitled: *LOVE, PEACE, DREAMS, and BOMBS*, Glover depicts youthful figures juxtaposed with elements associated with war, history, and technology....
Yumiko was born in Hiroshima, Japan. She received a BFA from University of Hawai'i, and is currently an MFA 2017 Candidate in the Department of Art at UCSB.
A. COLIN RAYMOND
The false dichotomy between art and craft has been widely criticized, as postmodern and contemporary artists plumb the indeterminacy of these categories while simultaneously expanding fields of influence, drawing on yet further distinctive visual media. Contemporary artists increasingly reference game design, films, advertising, and graffiti. Commercial and counter-cultural aesthetics collapse, occasionally even abutting referents to more long-standing artistic traditions. This talk examines the proliferation of such aesthetic categories alongside unique instantiations within the world of contemporary Japanese art.
Colin is a Ph.D. student in the History of Art and Architecture at UCSB. His primary research focus is post-war and contemporary Japanese art, video, and new media.
TRAVIS SEIFMAN
Though today a prefecture of Japan, the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa) were an independent kingdom, with their own distinctive culture, until their annexation less than 150 years ago. Devastated in 1945, the islands came under US occupation for nearly 30 years, and a significant US military presence continues today. Contemporary Okinawan art is deeply colored by this historical experience, and artists infuse their works with the traditional, even as they address the hopes and struggles of the contemporary. In this presentation, I provide a glimpse into Okinawan art today.
Travis is a Ph.D. candidate in History, UCSB. Japan Foundation fellow 2016-17. Holds MA in Art History from University of Hawai'i. Studies performance of Ryukyuan (Okinawan) identity in early modern diplomacy.
Yumiko Glover, Tomoko vs Mr. A (Image provided courtesy of the artist)
