Opening reception: Wednesday, May 4th from 5:00 p.m to 7:00 p.m.

COLLEGE PARK, MD. – University of Maryland’s The Art Gallery is excited to present an exhibition showcasing the work of four Master of Fine Arts candidates from the Department of Art in its annual MFA Thesis exhibition. The works exhibited by these artists, Jesse Burrowes, Zac Jackson, David Knobel, and Jonathan Monaghan, represent the culmination of their studies and their artistic development in their time at the university. Presented in collaboration with the Department of Art, this exhibition highlights the range and vibrancy of work being produced by emerging artists within the university community.

Jesse Burrowes uses found objects in his works, artifacts that contain evidence and traces of bodies such as stains, hairs, and other remnants. In these objects he sometimes finds humor, sometimes buried treasure, and always potential locations for expeditions, adventure, and desperate acts of conquest. Thinking of these artifacts as gestures of presence, he seeks to unbury hidden stories and speeches through the performance of objects. The contents of the remnants that he uses represent a new class of symbolic economy and a revived tone for further exploration.

Zac Jackson’s work stems from a fascination with our reactions, both mentally and physically, to ideas of stress and tension. To capture the movements that are associated with anxieties, he employs different moving pieces that amplify or exaggerate these twitches. With these kinetic elements, he looks inward at the body as it combats perceived stress. Recently he began focusing on the rigidity and stiffness that can also occur as a reaction to a stressful environment. Using cast plastic and screen-printed fiberglass, his work captures the unseen manifestations of tension as it relates to personal space. – www.zacjackson.com

David Knobel’s paintings and drawings express and communicate the concepts of the fantasy spaces created within the mind. They engage a new geographical space of a digital realm that encroaches on our material existence. Much of the imagery presented in his work is fractured, broken, and separated. The works ebb and flow from illusionary spaces to plastic spaces of flattened abstraction. With a world based in complex ever-changing visual symbols and rapid image reproduction, our language does not evolve at the same rate our image culture does. Knobel uses painting and drawing as a way to communicate and come to terms with the time and space in which we live. – www.dkiii.com

Jonathan Monaghan develops sculptures and 3D animations which navigate the slippery divide between reality and fiction, icon and corporate logo, and commercialism and contemporary art. Subject matter in his work is as iconic as it is wide-ranging; mythical animals, corporate logos, Gothic architecture, Pixar. Jonathan conflates these references into absurd objects, animated creatures and environments seemingly from alternate realities. Both familiar and alien, his work plays with our desires, dreams and anxiety. – www.jonathanmonaghan.com

The public opening reception for the exhibition will be held on Wednesday, May 4th from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The exhibition will be open to the public through Saturday, May 21st, 2011. The Art Gallery is located at 2202 Art-Sociology Building on the University of Maryland College Park campus. Please visit www.artgallery.umd.edu or call 301-405-2763 for more information.