by Stephan Lapthisapon
There is a tendency in the reception of contemporary art to make the works adhere to a certain style or match with a certain movement or period. While always a product of its moment any work of art eludes easy classification. What remains of the Postmodern today allows a playful merging of style, genres and approaches to medium. Artists can use the meaning of style to ask questions about the validity of style itself.
These works break the boundaries we attach to how we classify works of art. They use the vernacular of various practical approaches—construction, architecture, design, science and language – to force the viewer to see the irrelevance of style, period and movement. The conceit of the work is to use style to evade classification. Framed by the language of our associations we learn how the structures of the world guide us, challenge us and confound us. This is a material practice of form, shape, light color and surface bounded by language. Language penetrates the material to reveal the mechanism of construction and poetry of intention. The construction of form requires the reception of its place in the world. The particularities of setting then complete the process.
We engage in a process of figuring out our world through the forms around us. Presented with the surfaces and mirrors of ourselves in form, we give back this information in the narrative of perceiving shape, color and light. This engagement is active – in space, in shadow and in time. The time spent absorbing form challenges us to remember the places that remind us of those other places, other times and their meaning.
The function of form in our moment needs to be re-established as a value for our decision-making process. We learn through form and are better able to grasp the meaning of our moment. This is the exchange we make between ourselves and others in an attempt to find commonality and purpose. Form allows us to have a common language of experience and a place where can share it. We delight in the mysteries of perception and its elusive power of revelation.
“In showing works that encompass a range of media and thematic concerns, this web site of recent work by Robert Hower invites us to reflect on contemporary art and design’s range of purposes and methods. Although the pieces in paint, wood, light, print and lenticular lens differ in origin and context, they share a concern for viewer, context, and environment. More specifically, the body of work, Prime Perception, suggests the importance of the initial or fundamental level of experience, as the foundation for art and design practice. From a historical perspective, a sequence can be traced from the University of Nebraska Omaha, Cranbrook Academy of Art, through Kansas State University, to the University of Texas at Arlington. The impact of the Cranbrook school on American art and design thus provides one important point of reference” (Benjamin Lima, UT-D).
EDUCATION
M.F.A. Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Studied with George Ortman and Connie Whidden.
B.F.A. University of Nebraska Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska. Studied with Peter Hill.
Professor and Chair Emeritus (2022), Art and Art History, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, 2005 – 2021.
SELECT INVITED LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS
China Central Academy of Fine Art – Design, Beijing, China, 2012.
Design Fusion, Fachhochshule Trier, Germany, 2006.
Dundee University, Jordanstone School of Art, Scotland, 2000.
Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, 2000.
Norwich School of Art and Design, UK, 2000.
British Museum, UK, 1997.
SELECT EXHIBITIONS CURATED
TYPE: Aesthetic + Function International Traveling Exhibit, 2001-2002.
“Intimate Technology”, Kansas State University, 1993.
Organized/Curated “Art From the Computer: An Illinois Survey” (2 year traveling exhibit in conjunction with the Illinois Arts Council), 1988-90.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017 UDA Medallion Exhibition, National Museum of Liechtenstein
2013 Finlandia University Art Gallery, Michigan.
2012 China Central Academy of Fine Art – Design, Beijing, China.
2010 Prime Perception, The Gallery at The University of Texas Arlington
2000 Fachhochshule Trier, Germany
2000 Glasgow School of Art, Atrium Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland
1999 The Lu Xun College of Fine Arts, Shenyang, China
1998 Blackburn College- Tenner Art Center Gallery, IL
1998 Southeast Missouri State University- Art Museum, Cape Girardeau, MI
1997 Kansas State University – Union Gallery, Manhattan, KS
1991 University of Brno, Minigallery-Good Shepherd, Czech Republic
1989 University of Nebraska at Omaha Art Gallery, Omaha, Nebraska
1989 Illinois Wesleyan University, Wakely Gallery, Bloomington, Illinois
1978 Sheldon Art Gallery, University of Nebraska at Lincoln
1978 Sioux City Art Center, Iowa
1977 Musbach Art Center, Midland College, Fremont, Nebraska
1976 Creighton University Fine Arts Gallery, Omaha, Nebraska
1974 Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum Galleries, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul
Joslyn Art Museum
MONA – Museum of Nebraska Art
SCAC – Sioux City Art Center
AKMA – Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art
University of Nebraska, Omaha
Minot State University
Culture Center, S.K. Newman, Brno, Czech Republic
Kansas Wesleyan University
China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing
The University of Texas, Rio Grande
The University of Texas, Arlington
Great Plains Art Museum, University of Nebraska