Painting Exhibition - Young States

A senior honors show featuring works by Veronica Swanson and Lee White

Opening
Friday, April 26
4:30 p.m. - artist talk
5-7 p.m. - reception

The Catich Gallery is located in the Galvin Fine Arts Center on Gaines Street, between Locust and Lombard.

Lee White
Picking Apart, Chipping Away
oil on canvas
2013
46" x 58"

Veronica Swanson
The Monkey Garden
oil on canvas
2013
36" x 48"

Lee White

Place of Birth: Muscatine, IA
Majors: Fine Arts: Painting & Graphic Design

Reason for selecting art as a major:
So I could talk to myself when I couldn't confide in anyone else, or put how I felt into words.

Artist Statement:
I always want to understand things, but I just get more lost driving down the wrong road.

Hobbies/Interests or Inspiration:
Literary: Borges, Flann O'Brien, Virginia Woolf, Bhanu Kapil Rider, Timothy Leary, Hunter S. Thompson, etc.

Music: Bright Eyes, Joyce Manor, Nirvana, Desaparecidos, Daylight, Glassjaw, Balam Acab, Sonic Youth, Seahaven, Balance & Composure, The Doors, Letlive.

Artists: Daniel Pitin, Ann Gale, Antonio Lopez Garcia, Kostya Lupanov, Pascal Vilcollet, Nicolas Uribe, David Noonan, Edwige Fouvry, Edwin Dickinson, Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock, Jean Michel Basquiat, Christian Schoeler, Alex Kanevsky.

Hobbies: Live music, supporting my friends local bands, reading, writing,photography, spending time with friends and family, swimming, playing with my puppy Skip

Why would someone come to see your show?
Why would anyone want to see what they're afraid to admit?

How does your art relate to the title?
Young States reflects on the false hope one's family & social influences paint of opportunity and patient love during adolescence, but at the end of the day the picture get's carried away and you're left with a blank stair case descending into the basement of what used to be, or what could have been.

Quotes
Melissa Hueting from the Figgie told me several people consulted prices and contact information for my painting in the College Invitational. I sold the painting to a couple from Salt Lake City, Utah, who said I had some decent talent.

Exhibits:
Gallery Ed - 2012
Figge College Invitational - 2013

Plans for the Future:
MFA, Professor, Painter, Curator, Traveler

Veronica Swanson

Place of Birth: Princeton, Illinois
Majors: Fine Art: Painting, English
Minor: Art History

Reason for selecting art as a major:
I was very fortunate to have an amazing high school art teacher who not only inspired but also encouraged me to pursue art as my life passion.

Artist Statement:
When a person transitions from a child to an adult something is lost and never to be found again; my art illustrates this loss.

Hobbies/Interests or Inspiration:
Literature has always been my second love, closely trailing my passion for art. Ever since I was a child, words have had a huge influence on me and eventually influenced me to pick up my second major of English. I use both reading and writing as another outlet besides painting; when art cannot express my emotions, writing can. A less serious, but just as valuable source of release for me is cooking. I love to come home after a long day, grab whatever looks good from my fridge, and cook up some new creation.

Why would someone come to see your show?
Imagine a place where childhood memories become bogged down by the ever aware and ever encroaching grasp of age.

How does your art relate to the title?
My art revolves around the transition from youth to adulthood and how through this transition something important is lost. Innocence, freedom from responsibility, the appearance of youth all slowly vanishes through maturity. Young States references both youth and how one's state of mind changes through time.

Quotes:
Paraphrased: "You create dream worlds, anything can happen in them." - Fred Stonehouse
"I was really fascinated by the colors used in your paintings, and how they entangle to cast a deeper shade and reveal a more intense story." - Mary Madormo, The Buzz

Exhibits:
Pop Culture, Rogalski Center, St. Ambrose, January 2011
Gallery Ed, Rogalski Center, St. Ambrose, Spring 2012
Various open studios, Black Lodge, Spring 2011 & 2012
Figge College Invitational, Figge Art Museum, 2012

Plans for the future:
I plan to take a year off after graduation. in May, during which I will (hopefully) move to Florida to live with my sister, soak in some sun, and immerse myself in paint. After my year or so off, I plan to go to grad school to get my Masters of Fine Art.