PNCA Presents SuperTrash Symposium
September 11, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 11, 2014
Contact: Lisa Radon, Communications Specialist
lradon@pnca.edu
971-255-5528
Becca Biggs, Director of Communications
bbiggs@pnca.edu
971-255-5511
PNCA Presents SuperTrash Symposium Symposium examines cultural issues raised by SuperTrash exhibition of cult movie posters
Portland, OR, September 11, 2014—In conjunction with SuperTrash, an exhibition of cult movie signage at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA), the College presents SuperTrash Symposium on October 11, 2014 in the Commons at PNCA, 1241 NW Johnson. Organized by Feldman Gallery curator Mack McFarland and SuperTrash curator and author Jacques Boyreau, the symposium explores the psychology of gender in terms of the SuperTrash exhibition’s glaring male gaze and examples of high- and low-culture interpenetration such as the silent film era's first depictions of gender; the psychology of super-heroes in 1940's comic books; feminist revisions of exploitation narratives; and the image in the age of the internet.
Presenters include: Amy Borden, Assistant Professor, Film Studies Portland State University. Borden has presented and published her work at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), Domitor, Jump Cut, and in anthologies on early cinema and contemporary American film. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. Ben Saunders, Professor of English at University of Oregon and co-founder and director of the Undergraduate Minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies (the first undergrad minor of its kind in the country).
Saunders is the author of Do The Gods Wear Capes? Sarah Sentilles, Assistant Professor in Liberal Arts and the MFA in Visual Studies program. Sentilles is author of Breaking Up with God: A Love Story. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University. SuperTrash is an exhibition of 200 works of cult movie signage from the 1930s through the 1980s. The exhibition, which originated at The Andy Warhol Museum and went to the Anchorage Museum, runs through October 21, 2014 at PNCA. Curated by Jacques Boyreau, the author of TRASH: The Graphic Genius of Xploitation Movie Posters, SuperTrash features work by artists such as Joe Niem, Drew Struzan, Olivia De Berardinis, Robert Tannenbaum, John Alvin, Rene Ferraci, Jack Kamen, Albert Kallis, Neal Adams, John Solie, Reynold Brown, and Renato Casaro.
Boyreau considers this accumulation of signage an alternative portrait of the 20th century. The symposium has been developed in response to the opportunity presented by the exhibition to investigate the content and design of these historical cultural relics, culled together from eras when American society was even less tolerant, and more open with its racism, sexism, fear and hate of The Other.
The symposium will serve to probe and analyze their propaganda and commercially driven predatory messages to learn about these eras' images and grow an understanding of ourselves and the time in which we live.
Symposium Schedule
9:30 Coffee
10:00 Introduction
10:15 Curator Statement: Jacques Boyreau
11:00 Moderated group conversation with all participants plus audience questions and statements.
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Presentations by Borden, Saunders, and Sentilles followed by audience questions.
3:00 Final statements from two PNCA students
This creative project was made possible in part by The Gallucci Creative Fund. The exhibition is supported by Ninkasi Brewing.
About Pacific Northwest College of Art
As Oregon’s flagship college of art and design since 1909, Pacific Northwest College of Art has helped shape Oregon’s visual arts landscape for more than a century. PNCA students study with award-winning faculty in small classes. In the last seven years, PNCA has doubled both the student body and full-time faculty, quadrupled its endowment, and added innovative undergraduate and graduate programs. PNCA is now embarking on its boldest venture yet by establishing the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design as an anchor for the College’s vision of a new campus home on Portland’s North Park Blocks. Focusing on the transformative power of creativity, the capital campaign, Creativity Works Here, was launched in June 2012 with a lead gift from The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation of $5 million. PNCA’s new home will be a bustling hub for creativity and entrepreneurship, reflecting the influential role of art and design in our 21st century economy – both in Portland and beyond.
For more information: pnca.edu.