Computers and Monsters focus of Art Lecture

Artifacts and Anomalies, a new exhibit by Grand Valley State University artist Elona Van Gent, will be the focus of this spring's DeVos Art Lecture.

Van Gent, associate professor of art and design, will present images and talk about her work on Thursday, March 27 in the Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center. The lecture begins at 5:30 p.m., followed by a wine and cheese reception at 6:30 p.m. It is open to the public free of charge.

Van Gent will discuss current work she is preparing for her upcoming exhibition at the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in St. Petersburg, Russia. Although she uses contemporary materials, her artwork, Van Gent explained, has a correlation with artifacts collected for 'cabinets of wonder' on display at the 300-year-old museum founded by Russian Tzar Peter the Great. An early version of what we currently know as museums, cabinets of wonder reflected people's interest centuries ago in collecting all manner of interesting, beautiful, or odd artifacts ¿ both natural and manmade ¿ to display and use for instruction. Tzar Peter himself was an avid collector; Van Gent's work will be displayed alongside his cabinet of wonder.

'The cabinets were intended to be a microcosm of the world,' Van Gent said. 'Unlike contemporary museums, people were putting all of this together in the same place. The diverse range of things you'd see ¿ all crammed next to each other ¿ was fascinating.'

Van Gent has her own 'Cabinet of Wonder' on permanent exhibit at the Steelcase Library in the DeVos Center. Featured in the cabinet are what she calls 'hybrid monsters' ¿ 64 oddly-shaped, three-dimensional figures that explore the relationship between the human form and self-identity, said Van Gent. The plastic and bronze assemblages are high tech ¿ Van Gent designs them digitally using a computer ¿ but they also resemble toys or anatomical anomalies such as those displayed in cabinets hundreds of years ago. Van Gent's exhibit at the Peter the Great Museum runs from June through September.

Van Gent was executive director of the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (1985-87) and an instructor at several businesses and institutions, including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Kendall College of Art & Design, before joining Grand Valley's faculty in 1993. She currently teaches sculpture, 3D design, and 3D computer modeling.

For more information on the DeVos Art Lecture Series, call the GVSU Art Gallery at (616) 331-2564.