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Floyd Bettiga Gallery

The Hills are Alive

February 13 - March 22, 2018

The Hills are Alive

Published on 2/5/2018.

College of the Redwoods presents The Hills are Alive, featuring new work by Michigan-based artist Brian Spolans, on display Feb 13 to Mar 22. There will be a public reception for this exhibition on Tuesday, Feb 13 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
 
The Hills are Alive features drawing, painting, printmaking, and wall-based sculpture that pushes the boundaries between two- and three-dimensionality, and transports the viewer into a fictional world of animated and surreal characters and landscapes. The artist Brian Spolans combines a variety of two and three-dimensional media to create hallucinogenic scenarios of grimacing mountains, sci-fi dwellings, melting and gesticulating blobs, and multitudes of tiny figures performing mysterious tasks within these peculiar worlds.
 
Spolans asserts that biology, cinema, literature, video games, history, and social media inspire his work, and that his imagery illustrates “the relationship between people, technology and their environment, and how they can harmonize, irritate or isolate each other.” His inventive imagery also acts as metaphors for contemporary American society and life in the Internet age.
 
Many works in this exhibition are wall works, but depart from a conventional two-dimensional and rectangular format. Spolans’ works are instead novel combinations of meticulously executed paintings, drawings, and prints that are mounted, cut out, and assembled in a manner that emphasizes their sculptural dimensionality.
 
Brian Spolans is an artist, printmaker, and instructor based in Southeast Michigan. His work has been exhibited nationally and featured in numerous publications. He currently works at Eastern Michigan University as the Area Head of printmaking.
 
The Creative Arts Gallery at College of the Redwoods is located on the Eureka Main Campus, North Entrance and is open Monday and Tuesday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Wednesday 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and on Thursday and Friday by appointment. For more information, please call the Art Department office at (707) 476-4559.

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