Exhibit It Came From CalArts Features Alumni in Texas

Still from Peter Bo Rappmund’s ‘Communion Los Angeles.’

CentralTrak, the University of Texas at Dallas artists’ residence and gallery space, presents It Came From CalArts from Aug. 22 through Sept. 19. The exhibit, curated by CalArts alumna Robin Myrick (Critical Studies MFA 08), gathers three generations of CalArtian artists now living in Texas to reflect on the intersection of the Institute and the state.

From the curator’s statement:

Whenever someone finds out that I went to CalArts, I am often asked a version of the following question: “Isn’t that the Walt Disney school where all the students run around naked?” Those same people are often disappointed to hear that though the Disney legacy remains strong, the random nakedness is less a factor these days, and mostly limited to the annual Halloween party. Likewise, whenever I’m away from Texas, people will sometimes ask me whether we all ride horses to the store, or why anyone would eat a chicken fried steak. At times it feels like these are oddly similar conversations. My alma mater and my home state may share the dubious honor of inspiring provocative, cartoonish intrigue, but a more compelling question for me has always been how art that lives in the intersection of there and here, here and there, is the product of both experiences.

The CalArts artists whose work are on view in the month-long show are: Myrick, Justin Boyd (Art MFA 03), Elaine Bradford (Art MFA 03), Danielle Dean (Art MFA 12), Adrian Esparza (Art MFA 98), Peter Bo Rappmund (Film/Video-Music 10), Ariane Roesch (Art MFA 11) and David Stout (Film/Video-Music MFA 85).

Talks, readings and a musical performance are also scheduled as part of It Came From CalArts.

On Sept. 10, Dean, Rappmund and Roesch discuss their work, their experience as dual citizens of CalArts and Texas, and the ways in which they continue to negotiate this blended territory.

On Sept. 12, Jon Lindsey (Critical Studies MFA 10), Alana Macias (Theater MFA 07), Joe Milazzo (Critical Studies MFA 08), Myrick and Allie Rowbottom (Critical Studies MFA 11) give readings modeled after CalArts’ SPRAWL reading series.

It Came From CalArts closes on Sept. 19 with a performance of The Janus Switch (2015) by Stout, a piece which merges real-time generative animation and electronic music into a poetic form of live cinema.