Current Exhibitions

BEING ANDY WARHOL

On view from September 19 to December 31

The Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum is pleased to exhibit a series of photographs taken by Andy Warhol during the 1970s and 1980s. The photographs illustrate Warhol’s preoccupation with fame, his use of the camera both as a social equalizer and a social diary, the method behind his technical process, and finally, his construction of identity as a commodity. This exhibition also highlights several core themes found in Warhol’s work: the embrace of consumer culture, explorations of sexual identity, challenges to social and artistic conventions and the integration of high and low culture. Warhol was adamant about documenting the world around him. Through 18 black-and-white photographs we become aware of his private life, his social circle, and the artistic milieu which surrounded him. In 23 Polaroids we become privy to his public persona as image maker but also his working process. His photographs, as well known as the many celebrities who sat for him, reveal a world based on marketable image and personality. Because Warhol not only photographed celebrities, but also such mundane objects as kitchen knives or items at a flea market, we see in him an artist of abundant curiosity with an eye for detail and a knack for articulating his world with uncommon detachment. Warhol is, without a doubt, a conundrum well suited to his time and place in international art history.

Being Andy Warhol was curated by April Pitman, Whitney J. Leger, and Ashley N. Vienne, students at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette under the guidance of Dr. Lee A. Gray, Curator of Exhibitions and Collections at the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum. Daniel Williams, graduate assistant, contributed research and editing of texts and Kimberly Kleiser designed graphic materials. The exhibition is made possible by a bequest through the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

The University Art Museum in Lafayette, Louisiana is an architectural landmark in Acadiana and the largest art museum on the gulf coast between Houston and New Orleans. The University Art Museum features a variety of changing exhibitions and a continuing schedule of lectures and programs. All this in the tranquil beauty of the University of Louisiana, Lafayette campus just blocks away from the Oil Center and galleries, as well as the shops and restaurants of downtown Lafayette.

Download a copy of the exhibition catalogue here.

IMPRINTING THE SOUTH

On view from September 19 to December 31

The works in this exhibition represent a panorama of the South, its social,
economic, cultural, and topographical identity. Imprinting the South: Works on Paper from the Collection of Lynn Barstis Williams and Stephen J. Goldfarb includes images of southern landmarks, such as mountain and shore, of its picturesque cities, such as New Orleans, as well as commentaries or descriptions of its peoples and its ways of life. Scenes of cotton and tobacco farming, logging, and the steel and iron industry were frequent depictions in prints about the South in the early to mid-twentieth century, the period from which most of these works derive. Religion and recreation were also common subjects, as were the sometimes harrowing, often biting looks at race relations.

A retired Auburn University library faculty member, Lynn Williams began
collecting these images for her research. Her interest in the genre began at a print fair in Atlanta where she saw a satirical lithograph by George Biddle
inspired by the Scottsboro Case. Stephen Goldfarb soon joined her in an effort to acquire prints exposing both positive and critical views of their home region. One result of their remarkable shared passion is this wide-ranging exhibition, containing woodcuts, etchings, lithographs, serigraphs and other print media, selected from their discoveries. In addition to the image by Biddle that inspired Williams’ quest, the exhibition includes works by many other artists native to the South or drawn to the region by its alluring qualities.

Originating at the Georgia Museum of Art, this exhibit has been augmented with a selection of recent print acquisitions by Williams. Her book, Imprinting the South: Southern Printmakers and Their Images of the Region, 1920s–1940s (University of Alabama Press, 2007) may be purchased in our museum bookstore.

SLIGHTLY UNBALANCED

On view from September 19 to December 31

The artists of Slightly Unbalanced have focused on neurosis of various kinds in their work, using themselves and the people around them as fodder for their investigations. During the past fifteen years, inspired by the work of several prominent older artists, a younger generation has expanded the contemporary art vocabulary to encompass a subject that is now well known to the general public. The exhibition brings together 35 works by 18 artists or artists’ groups who make use of psychology as a kind of lingua franca—we all know what the symptoms of neurosis are, if not the particular diagnoses.

Including artists such as Cindy Sherman, Harry Dodge and Tony Oursler, this exhibition encompasses the range of artistic media prevalent today: video art, installations, photographs, paintings and drawings. In these works, the artists question what constitutes normalcy and what qualifies as neurosis, a slippery and suggestive area of exploration. The term “neurotic” is used to describe people who are extremely capable of functioning, despite some emotional suffering. Psychoanalytic diagnoses divide disorders into three levels: the healthy to neurotic level, the borderline level, and the psychotic level. Exploring the afflictions and quirks of functioning people, the art works in Slightly Unbalanced address what is common, even familiar. These artists invite viewers to reconsider their own experiences and opinions, and think about cultural assumptions pertaining to mental health and human behavior.

Download a copy of the exhibition catalogue here.