URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARY

June 4 – July 18, 2015
Opening reception: First Thursday, June 4, 6:00 to 8:00pm

THE WORK

Artists Gregory Euclide, Alex Lukas and Laura Vandenburgh adapt unorthodox mediums to challenge the traditions of landscape and artistic depiction of nature. Their mixed media works build on tensions between pastoral and urban traditions, offering indirect but provocative explorations of how humans situate themselves in and are continuous with natural and built environments.

Euclide incorporates organic elements alongside traditional artist media and found materials to produce his diorama-like relief works. Lukas creates his elaborate drawings of fictional, decaying cities using materials that include screen print, acrylic, gouache, ink and spray paint. Vandenburgh makes paper-based works that explore what she calls subjective geographies. Her abstract, intricate cut-out patterns evoke contour map lines and networks.

THE ARTISTS

Gregory Euclide (b. 1974 in Cedarburg, WI) holds an MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He was awarded three Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grants through the National Endowment for the Arts, a Jerome Foundation Residency through the Blacklock Nature Sanctuary, a Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists (2011-12) and a Mcknight Fellowship for Visual Artists (2014-15). Euclide lives and works in the Minnesota River Valley.

Alex Lukas (b. 1981 in Boston, MA) has exhibited throughout the United States and internationally in Canada, Denmark, Sweden and the Philippines. He was awarded residencies at the Ucross Foundation (2014), Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts and AS220 (2013), and the Jentel Foundation (2012). Lukas lives in Chicago, IL, where he produces zines through his imprint, Cantab Publishing, in addition to studio work. Alex Lukas work is shown courtesy of Steven Zevitas Gallery.

Laura Vandenburgh (b. 1963 in San Francisco, CA) holds an MFA from Hunter College, NY and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Bachelor of Science in Zoology from University of California, Davis. Recent exhibitions include Disjecta Contemporary Art Center (Portland, OR), Ditch Projects (Springfield, OR) and Kunstverein Passau (Germany). Support for her work includes grants and residencies from the Oregon Arts Commission, Ford Family Foundation, Ucross, Ragdale and Saltonstall Foundations, among others. Vandenburgh teaches at University of Oregon in Eugene. VIEW AVAILABLE WORKS.