HUNTER MFA THESIS EXHIBITION

Fall 2008 Thesis Candidates

SAMANTHA BARD
ROBERT DEBBANE
PETER DEMOS
ANGELA DITTMAR
LARA DUREN
NICKY ENRIGHT
EVAN GRUZIS
CARLY HAFFNER
RACHEL KOHN
ARTEMIS LOUIS
YAO ZU LU
EMMY MIKELSON
CHAD MITCHNER
SHAWN POWELL
BIRGIT RATHSMANN
RYAN ROA
INGRID ROE
EMMA SPERTUS
JEREMY WAGNER
JEREMY WILLIS

Birgit Rathsmann

Birgit Rathsmann employs the visual language of mapping meteorological and geological phenomena as a springboard for reflecting on psychological conditions. The confrontation of atmospheric abstraction becomes a site for existential contemplation.

You + Me (2008) incorporates two iPhones, displaying a computer animation of the movement of waves across the Atlantic. Ocean swells that would be terrifying if experienced in person become soothing on-screen pulsations. As the green waves undulate from one screen to the next, one is reminded of the way in which the remove of digital communication often belies the frothy churn of emotions passing between two people.

In Hurricane (2008) satellite imagery of a storm is filtered through binary code. This breaks down the storm's destructive force into a standardized language. Silk-screened in chalk, the ephemeral implications of the material echo the shifting movement of swirling wind currents.

The pair of images comprising, Out West (2008), reveals crescent-shaped clouds floating pixilated desert landscapes in negative. In their dark silhouettes, the overhang of rock formations appears spatially ambiguous, stacking downwards towards a void with an unperceivable depth.

In her embrace of scientific imagery, Rathsmann's work underscores the societal mediations of the landscape experience and the complex cultural elements informing views of nature.

Text by Catherine Krudy