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September 1, 2007

BETWEEN DREAMS AND REALITY, PURELY ACADEMIC OPENS OCT. 4

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Imagine a dream you can observe on a canvas and feeling deepemotion with your eyes wide open. Brad Spence, painter and Cal State San Bernardino assistant professor of art, captures the phenomena of a dream and explores human sentiment in his exhibit “Purely Academic” at CSUSB’s Robert V.
Fullerton Art Museum.

“Purely Academic” opens Oct. 4 and will run through Dec. 8. An opening reception will be held 5-7 p.m. Oct. 6, with a preview for Friends of the Museum at 4:30 p.m.

“The paintings are airbrush on canvas and work with the medium’s ability to produce blurred, ‘dreamlike’ images,” says Spence.

Brad Spence, This is not happening

Brad Spence,
This is not happening, 2007,
acrylic on canvas.

In his work, Spence uses a “cool” color palette with low contrasts to capture the faded quality of a memory or dream with a despondent feeling. “In a direct manner, these works address the psychological states of suffering and melancholy,” he said. “As such the work probes the conventions and limits of art’s capacity for expressing human subjectivity.”

Other works by Spence include a series titled “Art Therapy,” on display at the Shoshana Wayne Gallery in Santa Monica. That show opens Sept. 8 and runs through mid-October.

Spence, a graduate from the California Institute of the Arts, received his M.F.A. in art and critical studies. Since 1999, he has participated in more than 45 group exhibitions and produced eight solo shows. He has also curated many shows and received several grants, including the Durfee Foundation Fellowship. Before becoming a full-time faculty member in Cal State San Bernardino’s art department, Spence taught beginning, intermediate and advance painting at the University of California, Riverside and was a visiting graduate faculty member at the University of Southern California.

About the Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum

The Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum, home to what is considered the largest public display of ancient Egyptian art west of the Mississippi River, is located on the campus of Cal State San Bernardino.

Established in 1996, the Fullerton Art Museum has accumulated a collection of nearly 1,300 objects focusing on ceramics, ancient and contemporary art; the largest of which includes some 500 pieces encompassing more than 4,000 years of Egyptian history.

Admission is free. Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday. Parking: $4 per vehicle. Phone: (909) 537-7373.

For more information on Cal State San Bernardino, contact the university’s office of public affairs at (909) 537-5007 and visit http://news.csusb.edu.

artmuseum@csusb.edu