Jan Razauskas
February 2 - March 11, 2011
Wilson College will hold a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 2, to mark the opening of Imaging the Mason-Dixon, an exhibit of recent paintings by Baltimore artist, Jan Razauskas. The exhibit, presented by Wilson’s Department of Fine Arts and Dance, will open on February 2, and continue through March 11, 2011 in the Bogigian Gallery, which is located on the second floor of Lortz Hall.
Razauskas works in a variety of processes, including painting, drawing and mixed media installation. She has been recognized with grants from the Maryland State Arts Council, the Santa Fe Art Institute in New Mexico, the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, and the Baltimore Arts Council. Her work is held in numerous private collections across the country and has appeared in publications such as New American Painting and Artpapers. Razauskas has exhibited nationally as well as abroad, and teaches as an adjunct professor and holds a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA from Transart Institute, Donau Universität, Austria.
For this exhibit, Imaging the Mason-Dixon, Razauskas explores physical and psychological states that continue to reflect mindset as well as define territory of the Mason-Dixon Line. She is interested in indexical evidence left by the human touch. The semiotics of American philosopher, Charles Sanders Peirce suggest that index points to something, and a range of indexical possibilities in a work or art, which Razauskas seems to explore. She states, ”Indexical sign alludes to evidence, in the form of a physical trace of an object or a condition. Smoke is an index of fire, a fingerprint is indexical evidence left by human touch.” She looks closely at various evidences along the Mason - Dixon Line and has made a compelling body of work for the public to see and consider in terms of style, technique, and social/political response.
Her research took her to “current and historical texts, field research of people and places along the border of MD and PA, and was fueled by her wish to gain perspective on how president displays of ideological intolerance might trace back directly to the Mason – Dixon division.” This project was an inquiry into the possibilities of paint; giving form and idea.