New exhibits highlight the abstract

By John Caldwell
Photos courtesy University Art Museum
Daily Forty-Niner

Standing in the foyer of the University Art Museum at Cal State Long Beach, students gaze with wrinkled brows at an abstract drawing vaguely resembling a page out of an obscure scientific manual.

It is the work of Amy Myers, whose first museum exhibit joins two other exhibitions for the opening of the Art Museum's fall season.

The exhibitions, which also includes a site-specific installation by influential French artist Tania Mouraud and selections from the George F. Hampton collection, opened last week and will run through Oct. 29.

"Amy Myers: Centric 60," is a commanding presence in the center room of the Art Museum. Large ink, charcoal and graphite drawings represent a union of science and fantasy. Inspired by the work of her father, a particle physicist, Myers' work has a distinctive science fiction quality.

"He introduced her to scientific texts when she was young," said Stacey Atchley, a public relations representative for the Art Museum. "Those drawings partly inspired her work."

The University Art Museum opens the fall with three commanding art displays ranging from science fiction to wall-spanning collages

In another room, "Tania Mouraud: A Collection," is a singular work created specifically for the Art Museum.

Mouraud, a prominent French artist whose work is little known in the United States, used her signature style to explore the relationship between language, space and imagery for this captivating, site-specific installation.

She worked with art students at CSULB to print out the titles of the works in the Art Museum's permanent collection on thousands of muted colors recycled paper.

Muraud and the students then covered an entire wall space with overlapping layers to create a collage of words and phrases that may be vaguely familiar to some, but, for most, will generate curiosity and intrigue.

"It creates an interesting context because these titles are separated from the work," Atchley said. "I think for Tania, the process is as important as the final work."

The third exhibition presents a selection of paintings from the Gordon F. Hampton collection. The collection was donated to the Art Museum by the Hampton Foundation in 1999 by the children of renowned Los Angeles attorney and art connoisseur Gordon F. Hampton.

"Continuous Surface," displays a mere fraction of an impressive collection of 85 abstract paintings by 42 artists including Lee Krasner, Al Held and Milton Resnick. The theme expounds the idea of a "continuous canvas" on which artists used large brush strokes to give the impression of a painting that continues beyond the actual canvas on an endless imaginary surface.

Amy Myers and Tania Mouraud will participate as panel members in "Contemporary Discovery: Consequences of the new," a full-day symposium September 23 in the Art Museum. The event will feature other noted artists and educators from across the country. Other events will include informal gallery talks and musical performances.