As Pablo Picasso said, every act of creation begins with an act of destruction. That’s exactly what ISU School of Art masters’ candidate Kayla Akyuz and her husband, Ali, did to create Survey of Art History.
The exhibit, on display on Floor 2 of Milner Library through August 30, consists of a series of handmade paper sheets recycled from three commonly used art history textbooks in undergraduate art history survey courses.
“Many art history scholars feel that these introductory art history textbooks have a Eurocentric and gender-biased view,” writes Akyuz. “It is our intention to present these books in a new context that repurposes their materials into actual works of art.”
The pieces in the exhibit explore themes such as the limitations of textbooks, biased perspectives, destruction and reconstruction, and postmodern idealism and truism. The artists added that by destroying the original books and using the pages to create handmade paper, the viewer is encouraged to think about what role context plays when experiencing art.
The exhibit is co-sponsored by Milner Library and the Friends of the Arts. There will be a reception on Friday, August 28, 2015, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., with light refreshments and an artist Q and A.
