The Art Center is pleased to present “Imagery Overload,” featuring the paintings of Jessica Eastburn and Elizabeth Magee, and the digital montages of Don Manderson. The exhibit, which opens on July 30, highlights how each artist responds to the multifaceted barrage of social and commercial imagery of contemporary life. “Imagery Overload” is on view through August 27.
Alameda, California artist Jessica Eastburn uses a pastiche of arbitrary images from pop culture and overlapping patterns and motifs from what she calls “ephemeral media flotsam” in her work. Her paintings mimic the imagery overload, the “cacophony of information,” that defines consumer digital technology and social media platforms. Although her work addresses the modern digital world, Eastburn’s process - painting and drawing by hand - is completely non-digital. Eastburn received an MFA in Pictorial Art from San Jose State University. She has had multiple solo exhibitions and group shows in galleries throughout California and in 2020 exhibited at the de Young Open Exhibition at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.
Eugene artist Elizabeth Magee approaches her paintings as a field of inquiry, using less-familiar forms in her work. Influenced by contemporary culture, she is interested in a subtle interpretation of what “exists socially next to her work.” Magee, whose imagery is not readily identifiable, focuses on scale, proximity, and the relationship of one form to another. She says: “I like the idea that paintings can create a social screen, taking and offering impressions of their immediate surroundings.” Magee earned an MFA in Visual Art from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BFA in painting from the University of Oregon. She has exhibited her paintings in Oregon and throughout the US, most recently in the Umpqua Valley Arts Association Artworks Northwest Biennial Exhibit in Roseburg.
Pensacola, Florida digital media artist Don Manderson creates montages that reflect the human sensory experience in an increasingly technological society. His surreal imagery is inspired by his subconscious and dream states and influenced by his study of Asian art and his formal training in expressionist painting techniques. Translucent, multiple layers of photographic detail from a variety of sources, including Manderson’s own photographs, mirror the sensory bombardment of contemporary life. Manderson received his MFA at Florida State University. He has exhibited his digital montages at the Pensacola Museum of Art and in galleries and museums in many other cities throughout the US, including Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and San Francisco.
