New Currents in Contemporary Art: Master of Fine Arts Exhibitions


2007


Maria Britton
Emily Cash
Sharon Lee Hart
David Huyck
Mildred Joyner Long
M.J. Sharp
Kristin Anne Thomsen
Montana Torrey
Izel Vargas
Stacy-Lynn Waddell



Sharon Lee Hart

Sharon Lee Hart, The Researchers Triple Blinded by Complexity, 2007; digital print on Hahnemuhle paper with charcoal, color pencil, and graphite. © 2007 Sharon Lee Hart

Artist's Statement

My evolving body of work questions male and female cultural identities, interactions between humans and other animals, stereotypes and mass media representations, and repressive linguistic habits. With darkly humorous imagery the work urges us to confront critical social and political issues in our patriarchal society. Advertisements and the handmade mark, manipulation and reconstruction, beauty and deformity, dreams and reality, psychology, politics, and symbolism are all part of the language of this work.

The deep black color that veils the pieces, beautifies and obscures. In this series, black represents the absence of daylight and the shadows that temporarily cover and conceal, just as the content of the work brings up issues that are often uncomfortable, sugar coated, or accepted as the status quo.

My pieces re-contextualize and juxtapose segments chosen from my own photographs with found images cut from popular magazines. Many of the pieces reference the process and aesthetic quality of x-rays. In the darkroom I shine light on and through images, making the internal structure visible. I manipulate the images through the use of photomontage, darkroom, and digital processes. Then, reintroducing my hand, I rework the prints with traditional materials in order to bring a more complex, layered depth both conceptually and formally to the work.

Sharon Lee Hart