For Immediate Release:

"Yoked: Identity, Place and Presence"
Drawings and Sculpture by Jason Lanka.
November 14, 2006 - February 8, 2007
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 30, 4:00-6:00 pm

The Drawings and Sculpture of Jason Lanka de-romanticize the mythic transformation of America's western landscape. Symbols of agrarian labor are found in objects and imagery evocative of a collective memory, and the specificity of place. Lanka's work seeks to contextualize the base material environment of his Wyoming childhood into a powerfully universal language of human intervention and ingenuity. In his 2006, drawing "Ox," the nostalgic oxen yoke profile is transcribed onto paper with a direct and physical force equated to its preindustrial form in use. The image contours are built up with successive passes of graphite, tar and black charcoal line to suggest the monumentality and resilience of the very landscape this tool was designed to reshape. Here the yoke becomes an iconic framework that is at once harness and prison to instigate viewer reflections of labor against a contemporary retention of heroic folklore.

The Pegasus Gallery is located on the first floor of Chapman Hall.

Hours: Monday & Wednesday – 5pm - 8pm and Saturday – 9:30am- 1:30pm

Contact:
Matthew Weber
Art Curator
860.343.5806
or MWeber@mxcc.commnet.edu for more information