The University of Texas at Dallas, in collaboration with Dallas Contemporary, is offering a unique opportunity for art enthusiasts, students, and faculty members to engage in a dialogue with the renowned emerging media artist Chris Dorland.
“The New Media Painter: Chris Dorland,” an event organized by UT Dallas faculty member Liz Trosper MFA’16, will delve into the intersection of painting and new media in his artistic pursuit, providing a rare insight into his creative process. It will be held at the Dallas Contemporary (161 Glass St., Dallas, TX, 75207) on April 18 at 6:30 p.m.
Art publications often hail Dorland as a daring new media visionary known for incorporating drones, scanners, 3D visualization software, data processing, and virtual reality in his work. Dorland, a Canadian-American artist based in New York, frequently tackles themes of advertising, surveillance, and materialism through impactful visual works.
Trosper and Pomara, two professors of visual arts at The Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology at UT Dallas, are the driving force behind this event. Pomara has long championed research in painting and technology for the university and in his own creative research. And Trosper, a new media painter, studio artist, and assistant professor of instruction, aims to share her passion for expanding technological engagement in the arts through these events.
“When most people think of painting, they envision galleries and museums and don’t necessarily think of social media, PDF documents, websites, and other forms of screens, which are equally part and taking hold in painting discourse,” Trosper said. “New media painting involves incorporating UV printing, with projection, LEDs, screens, and electronics, and merging those into a fluid form of discourse that incorporates new media with traditional, material-based practices.”
Dorland’s visit, a significant event in the art community, is made possible by the UT Dallas Humanities and Emerging Arts (HEArts) grant program. This program, designed to promote scholarly activities in all disciplines, recognizes the importance of new media painting practice and its impact on the arts and humanities.
HEArts is an internal funding mechanism designed to promote scholarly activities in research, outreach, and creative activities in all disciplines that will result in publications, recognition, awards, or exhibitions and performances for faculty members in fields relating to the arts and humanities. Through the grant, Trosper seeks to fund research into new media painting practice and to invite contemporary, renowned artists to inspire the UT Dallas community.
“One of my goals is to recruit external scholars and artists and bring their ideas and expertise to our students and our campus, get people engaged with the idea, and get active around this topic,” Trosper said. “The outcomes will be establishing a local conversation and popularizing and normalizing knowledge and research in new media practices.”
Contact: AHTCreative@utdallas.edu
About Dallas Contemporary
Dallas contemporary is an arts space that has the privilege of presenting the vanguard of contemporary artistic practice and artistic production through exhibitions, performances, and public programs, which are all equally part of our curatorial mission. we believe that discourse, activity, and the display of art objects work together to advance our understanding of the art of this moment.
And as a non-collecting art space—a kunsthalle—DC is able to nimbly navigate the dynamic and uneven places that contemporary art, in all its many forms, might take us, pushing boundaries and challenging viewers to grow their definitions of art while also offering space for beauty and reflection. by virtue of this flexible, generous nature, Dallas contemporary is at the locus of innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration in the arts, in Dallas and well beyond.
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