Two Denver artists who use found objects to investigate the abject and the body through collaborative works are featured in UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art’s first exhibition for GOCA’s 2016-17 season of programs.
Girl Crush, featuring Denver-based artists Amber Cobb and Laura Shill, opens Aug. 5, 2016 at the downtown GOCA121 gallery, 121 S. Tejon St.
A free public reception will be 5-9 p.m., Aug. 5 with informal artist talks in the gallery starting at 5:30 pm. Refreshments will be provided by Nosh restaurant.
The exhibit will be on display through Sept. 24, 2016. Gallery hours are noon-5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, or by appointment.
About the Exhibit
In Girl Crush, Amber Cobb and Laura Shill use found objects to investigate the abject and the body through collaborative sculptural and installation works. The artists’ focus on the abject – a common human feeling of disgust for our own “corporeal reality” as mortal beings – is a unifying thread through their respective bodies of work. Visitors will be invited to engage with an environment of objects featuring fleshy tones and dichotomously seductive and repulsive forms.
Drawing from the materials that each artist uses in her own individual practice – often intimate objects from the domestic sphere (in particular the bedroom) – the artists combine discarded objects with amassed and tediously hand-worked objects. Through these works, Cobb and Shill attempt to place the objectified female body in relationship with all other human bodies that stretch, break, spill and ooze.
About the Artists
Amber Cobb is a Colorado based artist, living and working in the Denver area. In 2011 she received her M.F.A. in Sculpture from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Cobb has been exhibited in a number of exhibitions both nationally and internationally including xiao shan xiao at the Hunan Province Art Museum in Kaifeng, China, Sweat Baby Sweat in Los Angeles, and Direct Connect in Berlin, as well as the Colorado region including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, and RedLine Gallery. Cobb is represented by Gildar Gallery in Denver and Gray Contemporary in Houston, Texas.
Laura Shill‘s work is a collision of sculpture, installation, performance and photographic processes. She earned an MFA in Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2012 and has exhibited her work regionally, nationally and internationally. Her recent solo exhibition, Phantom Touch, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver combined installation, collage, and photo-based works to address the fraught nature of touch, absence and intimacy.
GOCA is a regional hub of contemporary art, culture, and conversation. By featuring world-class artists, hosting artist and expert talks, and offering meaningful events, GOCA engages UCCS students, faculty, staff and Pikes Peak Region community members in contemporary culture and life. GOCA is a contemporary arts organization with two galleries, one founded on the UCCS campus in 1981 and a satellite downtown location that opened in 2010 in the Plaza of the Rockies building
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in Colorado Springs, is one of the fastest-growing universities in Colorado. The university offers 39 bachelor’s degrees, 20 master’s and five doctoral degrees. UCCS enrolls about 11,300 students on campus annually and another 2,000 in online programs. For more information, visit www.uccs.edu.
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