NEWS RELEASE

February 17, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE through April 30, 2011
Contact:	Sandra Q. Firmin
		Curator, UB Art Gallery
		716-645-6912 x1420
		sfirmin@buffalo.edu

UB Art Gallery, Center for the Arts to present the work of eight MFA 
Students

BUFFALO, NY [WINDOWS-1252?]– An exhibition of work by eight first year MFA
students 
from the Department of Visual Studies at the University at Buffalo, will 
open on Thursday April 7, 2011 with a public reception from 5 to 7 pm at 
the UB Art Gallery, Center for the Arts.

UB Art Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For 
information, please call 716-645-6912. The exhibition, which is free and 
open to the public, will be on view in the second floor gallery through 
April 30, 2011.

The exhibition features the artwork of Adrian Bertolone, Bradley 
Phillips,  Christopher Fox, Eduardo Velazquez, Liz Rywelski, Mary 
Johnson, Necole Zayatz, and Ripley Whiteside. This dynamic exhibition 
will include a variety of mediums and styles including live music, 
performance, printmaking, video, painting, drawing, sculpture, and 
photography.

Adrian Bertolone received a BFA in Printmaking with from the Cleveland 
Institute of Art while also maintaining a steady practice of audio/video 
work. In addition to exhibiting prints, drawings, and videos in 
galleries and public spaces, the artist has been performing experimental 
audio in bands/acts and solo for over 10 years in Cleveland and around 
the USA.  www.babanaseatgirl.com

Bradley Phillips received his undergraduate degree from Brooks Institute 
of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. His work explores visual 
representations of cognitive processes. These liminal spaces expose a 
psychological interstice that provides insight into ontological 
understanding. www.bradley-phillips.com

Christopher Fox received his BFA in Graphic Design from Grand Valley 
State University in 2001. He is a professional designer and has been a 
full time professor for four years, teaching graphic design at the 
undergraduate level. In 2008, he founded Not Design, a collaborative 
design and letterpress studio in Grand Rapids Michigan. His work focuses 
on site specific installation, human scale interaction and typographical 
manipulation aimed at engaging audiences through educational structures.

Eduardo Velazquez is a Caribbean painter and performance artist whose 
work deconstructs established identities and gender roles through the 
medium of paint, photography, body and video. He utilizes painting and 
performance as tools to investigate how desire becomes manifest in ones 
body, identity, and personal postcolonial history. Influenced by the 
tradition of camp imagery, Velazquez uses intentional homoeroticism to 
present an intimate portrait of gender performance. He contributes to 
different queer activist movements in New York City, and has spoken at 
Jacob Riis Foundation, Museum of Queer History, and El Museo del Barrio.

Liz Rywelski is a tactical and conceptual artist whose work encompasses 
both private and public performances, haul shopping, videos, drawing and 
photography. During her first year at UB, Liz has become exponentially 
fascinated by game studies discourse surrounding concepts of the 
spoil-sport, ruleset. and critical play. In her practice, Rywelski 
conducts a sort of fieldwork as she re-skins, un-plays, and subverts the 
role of a consumer. Liz Rywelski has shown her work internationally and 
is an alumna of [WINDOWS-1252?]Philadelphia’s independent art collectives
Space 1026 
and P.I.FA.S. She received her B.F.A in Drawing at Moore College of Art 
and Design.  www.lizrywelski.com

Mary Johnson, originally from Pittsburgh, lives and works in the Buffalo 
area. She studied abroad in Italy, and graduated with her BA from Gordon 
College in 2008. Her work investigates the fragmentation of memory, and 
the absence of it -forgetting- and uses objects as characters for points 
of departure.

Necole Zayatz has shown her single channel video work nationally 
including the Burchfield Penney in Buffalo, NY and internationally 
including The European Media Arts Festival.  Currently in her first year 
at the University at Buffalo she in concentrating on integrating the use 
of physical computing practices with other studio based practices to 
better enhance viewer experience through participation.

Ripley Whiteside graduated with a BFA in drawing and painting from 
UNC-Chapel Hill. Anchored by a privately developed definition of nature, 
his work is situated at the confluence of depiction and natural history. 
  www.ripleywhiteside.com

The UB Art Gallery is funded by the UB College of Arts Sciences, the 
Visual Arts Building Fund, and the Seymour H. Knox Foundation Fine Arts 
Fund.

The UB Art Gallery is located in the Center for the Arts on the North 
Campus just north of the I-290 on Millersport Highway. Traveling east or 
west on the I-290 take exit 5B to Millersport Highway North. Turn onto 
the campus at the Coventry entrance. As you enter the campus, the Center 
for the Arts is a high gabled white building directly ahead of you.

After 3 PM and on weekends, parking is free and a permit is not 
required. During all other times, guests must park in metered spaces, 
visitor parking lots, or obtain a parking permit from UB Art Gallery 
staff. In order to obtain a parking permit, temporarily park in the 
circle in front of the Center for the Arts and see a gallery attendant 
inside.
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