An exhibition at Gallery CTA will feature paintings by Erin Cunningham, a Boise State alumna (BFA, ’05; MFA, ’11) and adjunct faculty member of the Department of Art, Design and Visual Studies.
The gallery, inside CTA Architects Engineers’ office, will host a First Thursday reception with the artist, 5-8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 7, on the eighth-floor of the Zions Bank Building at 800 W. Main St.
“These paintings represent a body and person who no longer exists,” said Cunningham. “To make sense of the new body that grew into the remaining vacancy, I acquired photographs of my blood pathology taken before a stem cell transplant to investigate my experiences by examining my illness on a cellular level. The process of painting from these images is connected to the observational practices that are a historical bridge between art and medicine. This became an exercise in seeing and recording divergent cellular forms. While working to represent subjects that I could only understand formally, I began to develop rudimentary diagnoses based on color, shape, texture and size.”
Cunningham’s artist statement reads:
“My work examines my own troubled experience with memory: its inaccuracies and inconsistent function, and how the unchecked desire to reconnect with a moment from the past can be precisely what unravels any authentic connection to that time. To me, a photograph is a mirage of memories. To explore this, I am continually conflating notions of physical and mental distance in my images, applying subtle hazes or blur over my subjects, so that no matter where one stands in relation to the work, specific detail is never quite described or reached.”
See more work: http://www.erincunningham.net/illustration-posters