contemporary ubuweb

Penelope Umbrico | USA All The Catalogues (A-Z) (2002-2003) Your Choice (2004) Arrhythmia (All The Dishes On Ebay) (2002-2003) Penelope Umbrico has worked-consistently, and almost obsessively-with images that are meant to make us crave the objects they present. Experimenting with this imagery and its accumulated desire, Umbrico is interested in how we maintain our equilibrium in the incessant flow of images and information that surrounds us, and her interest extends beyond consumerism and discussions of cultural representation. Her work moves back and forth between images that mark ways in which the surfeit of objects and pictures in our culture seduce us and those that trace perceptual activity and the physical act of seeing. She makes ordinary objects strange and complicates visual incidents--not to create more cultural information, but to generate a visual apperception, often induced by movement or proliferation. In this way, she is able to reveal and explore the psychological spaces that open up, such as the anxiety produced by the irresolvability of a rapid shuffle of images, or the desire generated in the abundance implied by a room filled with images. - Sheryl Conkelton, 2001 Penelope Umbrico was born in Philadelphia, PA. She attended Ontario College of Art in Toronto, Canada, and received her M.F.A. at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. She has had numerous solo exhibitions of her work, including at: Julie Saul Gallery, NY; International Center of Photography, NY; Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA; P/M Gallery, Toronto; Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, AL., and has been participated in numerous group exhibitions including: Museum of Modern Art, NY; Art in General, NY; Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, NY; Massachusetts College of Art, MA; Gallery 44, Toronto; Dazibao, Montreal; Memphis College of Art, TN; Lowe Art Museum, FL; Bruce Museum, CT; Ansel Adams Center for Photography, CA; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA; Katonah Museum of Art, NY. Umbrico's work is included in several major collections: the Museum of Modern Art; International Center of Photography; Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. She is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts, Catalogue Project Grant, and a New York Foundation for the Arts, Artists Fellowship. As well as lecturing on her work at numerous Colleges, Universities and institutions, Umbrico has held a number of teaching positions in both graduate and undergraduate programs. These include appointments at Columbia University, New York University, Cooper Union, Rhode Island School of Design; Parsons School of Design, Sarah Lawrence College, School of Visual Arts, and the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College, where she is currently the Chair of MFA Photography. Website: penelopeumbrico.net UbuWeb Contemporary | UbuWeb