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The Undergraduate Studio Honors Program of the UC San Diego Visual Arts Department will be opening their doors to the public on March 11, 2020 from 2:00–6:00 pm. Each year top students are selected by the faculty to join the Honors Program. This event will display the newest artworks made by this select group in recent months. The works on view display a wide breadth of mediums and concepts and as a whole demonstrates a dynamic group of young artists with distinct voices. The included artists are: Lucy Bell, Jose Benitez, Michael Kalisz, Tula Oliver, Xiaoyu Ren, Lisa Resendiz, Pengbin Sun, Leslye Villaseñor, Megan Winegar, and Yan Yu.

A few of this group focus on producing abstractions of the human body. Tula Oliver creates sci-fi inspired worlds to explore how scientific intervention in nature directly engenders psychological effects on the  human psyche. Jose Benitez’s paintings and drawings investigate the ungraspable fluidity and chaotic nature of our reality. Lisa Resendiz plays with line and color on layers of paper and plastic film to imply the separations that exist between people and the dualities of emotion within the self.

With a parallel emphasis on the notion of personal identity, Leslye Villaseñor seeks a deeper understanding of the human consciousness using case studies of personal narratives as departure points. Megan Winegar fuses bright colors with recognizable New York punk aesthetics from the 1970s and 80s to chart how  personal identity develops under societal constraints. Pulling from popular culture and retro-nostalgia, Michael Kalisz’s multidisciplinary art practice utilizes humor and self critique as a means of uncovering the nuances of his personal identity.  

Broader institutional and social critiques are addressed by two artists. Yan Yu’s installations survey the racialized social and gender hierarchy found in art spaces through incorporating audience participation and socially engaged practices. Xiaoyu Ren looks deeply at society’s treatment of women in her art, sourcing from her personal experience as a female artist coming from eastern culture.

Lucy Bell’s organic shapes and colors playfully tackle environmental issues and colonialism. Pengbin Sun is interested in the process of mechanical repetition; his large scale ball-point pen drawings aim to explore the complex dichotomy between the natural and the mechanical.

This event will take place March 11, 2020 on the west wing of Mandeville (level 2, top floor, above the University Art Gallery). There will be music, as well as free food and drinks.