Sage Professor Hovendick’s Work Selected for National Juried Exhibit

Posted By: Elyse Beaudoin

Professor Sean Hovendick’s interactive artwork Be A Man / Sugar And Spice, recently exhibited in The Sage Colleges’ Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition, has been selected for the national juried exhibition X by Y: Digital Art in 2010 at UNC Pembroke.

From over 100 works of art submitted, Professor Hovendick’s work was one of only 15 chosen for the exhibition which includes a wide range of art such as large-scale digital prints, interactive media and site-specific multimedia installations

“Using digital technology can be a seductive process, sometimes at the expense of content juror,” Peter Patchen said. As I explored the entries, I looked for work that was not only aesthetically interesting but conceptually intriguing. Being a digital show, I also looked for work that placed that technology at the service of an idea in a meaningful way.” A digital artist himself, Patchen is the chair of the Digital Arts program at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.

X by Y: Digital Art in 2010 opens on March 17th and will be on display until April 7th at the University of North Carolina’s A.D. Gallery in Pembroke, NC. For more information about the exhibition, please visit: http://www.uncp.edu/a.d.gallery/view/2010/xbyy_digital/xbyy_digitalart2010.htm

In an artist’s statement by Hovendick  about Be a  Man/ Sugar and Spice he said,

“Learned behaviors have many sources: parents, siblings, friends, neighbors… however, when those elements are unavailable, or at best weak in their ability to contribute to the learning process, the influence that is always available is television.
Television grows more powerful every day, as our filters of critique remain oblivious to its control allowing mediated behaviors to permeate our senses. The mental anguish, confusion, and isolation brought about by its endless consumption, feeds on itself with no sign of repentance.
Be A Man with Sugar and Spice represent the mediated psyche constantly in flux and endlessly referencing gender-role behaviors learned through the media. The dual, touch-screen monitors allow the audience to explore and relate to gender roles portrayed in television sitcoms from the 70′s and 80′s presented as looping audio/video clips.
Is it possible to disregard mediated reality? Can we be sure of our true personalities? Or will the power of television forever be the driving force of cultural control?”