Yu Hong lecture

Yu Hong has consistently explored three themes since she graduated from the prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in 1988: the female point of view in all phases of life from childhood to maturity, the relationship of the individual in China to the convulsive transformation of society and finally, the poetry of day-to-day existence despite “most of us leading a life of trivialities…”

Trained in the oil-painting department of the Academy, she has become one of the most accomplished painters of her generation. She uses her technical virtuosity to produce jarring color schemes and inventive compositions that allow us to reconsider the value of the various daily activities. The most recent developments of her work present her astute observations combined with a refined painting sensibility of colorful scenes of daily life. Her pastel portraits and Routine series present paintings of her daughter and herself, respectively, that invest the subject with a persuasive power and universality of the moment depicted. In Britta Erickson’s words, “leavened by Yu Hong’s subtly sardonic wit, her recent works are both profound and utterly enjoyable.”

February 27, 7:30 pm
free to the public
Danforth Hall
Mills College
5000 MacArthur Blvd

Michael Rees lecture

The Mills MFA Lecture Series is happy to present an evening lecture with Michael Rees.

Michael Rees' art defies category, combining sculpture, animation, performance, video, installation, and computer software programs to express his interest in the body and its connection to mind and spirit. Rees' work references surrealism and other movements in art history, as well as western analytic science and eastern metaphysics. Rees is a self described "pataphysician", a maker of imaginary solutions and an investigator of the truth of contradictions and exceptions. He is professor of Sculpture at the Mason Gross School of Art, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.

Exhibition History: Rees was included in the 1995 Whitney Biennial and in Michael Rees: Digital Psyche at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Articles have appeared about his work in World Art, Artbyte, Popular Mechanics, Art in America, The New York Times and other publications. In October of 1999 he presented his work in the French Senate in the George Clemenceau Hall at the Palais Du Luxemborg, Paris, France. His work was included in the 2001 Whitney Museum exhibition BitStreams curated by Lawrence Rinder.

The Mills MFA Lecture Series is made possible by the generosity of the Herringer Family Foundation. The Series allows the MFA candidates to invite artists they are interested in to speak at Mills and meet with the students.

February 13, 7:30 pm
free to the public
Danforth Hall
Mills College
5000 MacArthur Blvd