“Figurative Dimensions” Features Works by Tiiu Ashcraft and Russell McMillin
“Figurative Dimensions” Features Works by Tiiu Ashcraft and Russell McMillin
Whether nude or fully cloaked, the human figure can demonstrate great power. Two contemporary artists, Tiiu Ashcraft and Russell McMillin, use drawings and sculpture to explore the interfusion of physical and psychological strength in the figure. Twenty powerful ceramic female torsos by McMillin and five giant and dramatic charcoal/mixed media drawings of the male and female figure by Ashcraft will be exhibited at the University Art Gallery, California State University, Dominguez Hills. The exhibition, “Figurative Dimensions,” opens Nov. 12 with a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The exhibition continues to Dec. 10, 2009.
McMillin’s series of fantastic figures, “Power Culture Icon” are covered in armor and dressed in corsets.
McMillin, who is an art instructor specializing in sculpture at El Camino College, says these figures “relate to the acquisition of power, cultural development and ultimately, society’s creation of iconic images. These sculptures incorporate influences and elements from pre-history, history, and contemporary society.”
McMillin, who is an art instructor specializing in sculpture at El Camino College, says these figures “relate to the acquisition of power, cultural development and ultimately, society’s creation of iconic images. These sculptures incorporate influences and elements from pre-history, history, and contemporary society.”
Ashcraft’s highly charged drawings resonate with the conflict between male and female. The large-scale mixed-media nudes emphasize the beauty of the human form in what the artist describes as “a classical fine art context.” The artist, who has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from CSU Long Beach, writes that she is exploring “the tension between beauty and depravity, visual seduction and disquiet.”
A conversation with the artists will take place at 6:15 p.m., during the opening reception of “Figurative Dimensions.”
The exhibition and related events are sponsored by the Instructionally Related Activities Committee of the Associated Students, Inc.
Open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, the University Art Gallery is located in room A-107 on the first floor of LaCorte Hall on the campus of CSU Dominguez Hills, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson, near the junction of the Harbor, Artesia and San Diego freeways. Admission to all gallery events is free.
For more information about the University Art Gallery and others shows in the 2009-10 season, click here.
- Kathy Zimmerer
