MAY 1 THROUGH JUNE 25, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 1st, 5:30 – 7:30 PM
"TalkAbout" Gallery Discussion: Saturday, May 15th, 1:30 – 2:30 PM

Fleisher Art Memorial presents the final exhibition in the thirty-second season of the three-part Wind Challenge Exhibitions at Fleisher — the Delaware Valley's premier juried artist exhibition program. This season's nine Challenge artists were selected from a field of nearly 300 applicants to exhibit in one of three three-person exhibitions. Challenge 3 features the work of artists Tetsugo Hyakutake, Scott Kip, and Brenna K. Murphy.

The exhibition begins on Saturday, May 1st, with an opening reception from 5:30 to 7:30 PM, and continues through June 25th, 2010.

Both the exhibition and the opening reception are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM (Monday through Friday), 6:30 to 9:30 PM (Monday through Thursday), and 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM (Saturday).

Born and raised in Japan, Tetsugo Hyakutake remembers hating the ubiquitous factories that created so much pollution. Now an adult, he cannot help but to be mesmerized by their mythological structures and colored lighting. By recording reality through photography, with minor aesthetic adjustments, Hyakutake confronts his complicated relationship with modern industrial Japan. He intends his work to serve as a tribute to those who made it possible for Japan to thrive as a nation, as well as to create open dialogue on all the contradictory “truths” it created through its' industrialization.

Mr. Hyakutake received his B.F.A from the University of the Arts and his M.F.A from the University of Pennsylvania.

Image: Tetsugo Hyakutake, Train Garage, 2007, archival pigment print, 32 x 40 inches

The light that hangs above each of the carefully constructed wooden structures of Scott Kip's objects may be just as important — if not more than — the structures themselves. Each structure is designed to accommodate paths of light, both from above and through the possible sightlines of the viewer. Kip looks past the physical nature of the pieces to direct our attention to the transience of light. His focus is on such ephemeral matters as how perspective changes understanding, the relationship between objects, and the idea of life as a place in space.

Mr. Kip attended The University of the Arts as a crafts major with a focus on woodworking.

Image: Scott Kip, interior detail: Present, 2008, mixed material sculpture

For most of us, the idea of home brings to mind the familiar house of our childhood, in a neighborhood where we knew all the street names. For artist Brenna K. Murphy, who moved eight times to six different states by the age of eighteen, home has been more of an abstract idea. In response to her nomadic upbringing, her ever-present body became her surrogate home, and hair has now become her material of choice. By stitching directly into photographs of empty houses, Murphy continues to poke and prod her definition of home against its conventional meaning.

Ms. Murphy received her B.F.A. from the University of North Carolina.

Image: Brenna K. Murphy, Home is where the hair is (untitled 8), 2004, silver gelatin photograph with human hair, 10 x 8 inches

Join us on On Saturday, May 15th, from 1:30 to 2:30 PM, for the Challenge “TalkAbout” — an artist-led open dialogue with students and the public. Admission is free.

Fleisher's exhibition programs are supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and donations from more than 2,000 student members and friends.