Architecture and life intersect for Moss Arts Center’s newest exhibition

The Moss Arts Center unveils a new suite of exhibitions featuring artists whose work reimagines the built environment while exploring concepts such as history, memory, and place.

Anchored by large-scale works, “Artists and Architecture: Projection/Convergence/Intersection” spans the practices of photography, painting, and site-specific installation.

The exhibitions will open with a reception on Jan. 26, from 5-7 p.m. in the Grand Lobby of the Moss Arts Center, 190 Alumni Mall, and will be on view until April 1. The galleries and all related events are free and open to the public.

“Artists and Architecture: Projection/Convergence/Intersection” features a selection of works by emerging artists, as well as nationally and internationally acclaimed artists, including:

• James Casebere’s large-scale photography features iconic, classical architecture, reinvented and reconstructed, challenging perceptions of what is real and unreal. Casebere lives and works in New York City.
• Paintings on paper by Amy Casey depict cityscapes on the brink, suspended and precarious but intertwined and connected, reflecting turmoil in a changing world. Casey lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio.
• Large-scale photography by Dionisio González showcases modernist architecture intersecting and infused into stunning, almost surreal vistas from Vietnam and Brazil. González lives and works in Seville, Spain.
• Candida Höfer’s large-scale photography highlights the architectural grandeur of historic European interiors – libraries, palaces, opera houses, and theatres – vividly portrayed with exquisite detail in an exploration of form, structure, perception, and space. Höfer lives and works in Cologne, Germany.
• Abstract paintings by Matthew Kolodziej explore the archaeology and architecture of space, probing sites of construction, demolition, transition, and catalytic change. He will give an informal artist talk during the opening reception on Jan. 26 at 6 p.m. in the Moss Arts Center’s Miles C. Horton Jr. Gallery. Kolodziej lives and works in Akron, Ohio.
• Jean-François Rauzier’s monumental hyperphotos are each created with up to 3,500 individual close-up, digitally composed, and reconstructed images and feature an intensity of resolution and detail amidst expansive scale. Rauzier lives and works in Paris.
• Jennifer Williams’ expansive 120-foot-long, site-specific installation based on the architecture, history, and community of Blacksburg will be on display in the Moss Arts Center’s Francis T. Eck Exhibition Corridor. She will give an artist talk in front of her work on Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. Williams lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Click through the photo gallery to see work from the artists featured in the exhibitions:

In a related event, Michael Borowski, artist and assistant professor of studio art in Virginia Tech’s School of Visual Arts, will deliver a gallery talk on photography and architecture on Feb. 10 at 6:30 p.m. in the Moss Arts Center’s Ruth C. Horton Gallery.

“In incorporating architectural images and ideas in their work, the artists in this exhibition engage in collapsing real and fictive imagery, uncovering a depth of ideas and perspectives about our world both past and present,” said Margo Ann Crutchfield, curator at large for the Moss Arts Center who curated the work for the exhibition. “Large in scale and visually seductive, their art takes the intersection of architecture and life as a platform to explore, ponder, and heighten awareness of a variety of ways that architecture and the built environment impact the human experience.”

This suite of exhibitions is supported in part by a gift from Dr. Charles Y. Davis and Mrs. Carole C. Davis. 

The Moss Arts Center offers many opportunities for students, faculty, and community members to engage with artists and their work. To arrange a group tour of the galleries, or for information on presenting a My Take talk in the galleries, contact Meggin Hicklin, exhibitions program manager for the Moss Arts Center.

The Moss Arts Center’s galleries are regularly open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.– 5:30 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Parking is available in the North End Parking Garage on Turner Street. Virginia Tech faculty and staff possessing a valid Virginia Tech parking permit can enter and exit the garage free of charge. Limited street parking is also available. Parking on Alumni Mall is free on weekdays after 5 p.m. and on weekends.

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Kacy McAllister at 540-231-5300 or email kmcallis@vt.edu during regular business hours at least 10 business days prior to an event.