Sacrifice Zones – Jon Bellona and Ralph Pugay

April 5 — 21, 2024

510 Oak St, Eugene, OR 97403

Reception:  Friday, April 5th from 5:30-7:30  p.m.
Gallery hours: Friday- Sunday from 12:00- 4:00 p.m.

 

This exhibition features artists playing with signifiers of theatricality, hysteria, and humor in contemporary conversation regarding the notion of apocalypse. What are the varying scales of apocalypse? And most importantly, what might come after?

Sacrifice Zones is part of the exhibition series Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World, organized by curators-in-residence Ashley Stull Meyers and Aurora Tang and made possible by the University of Oregon Department of Art’s Center for Art Research and the Ford Family Foundation.

 

Jon Bellona

Jon Bellona is a sound artist and educator who specializes in digital technologies. His work has been shown in concerts, festivals, and galleries across North America and Europe, including the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.; SPRING/BREAK Art Show in NYC; New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME); and International Computer Music Conference (ICMC). Jon has received awards through the National Science Foundation, the Oregon Community Foundation Creative Heights Grant, the Jefferson Trust, the Oregon Arts Commission, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Jon is a Senior Instructor I of Audio Production at the University of Oregon and is a co-director of Harmonic Laboratory, an interdisciplinary arts collective focused on art and technology collaborations. See more of his work at https://www.jpbellona.com/

Image 1: Sonic Solution (2024), Sound Cannon in use, 2024, Photo by Adam Desorbo
Image 2: Portrait of the Artist, courtesy of the artist.

                   

 

Ralph Pugay

Ralph Pugay (b.1983 Cavite, Philippines; lives and works in Portland, OR) explores the curious and absurd facets of life through his brightly colored and playfully composed paintings. Informed by his background as a Filipino-American queer artist, Pugay pushes the boundaries of nonlinear visual storytelling to engage viewers in reflecting on questions about belonging, identity, and morality, all conveyed with a distinctive blend of clarity and humor. Through his work, Pugay has earned accolades, including the 2015 Betty Bowen Award, an Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship, and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Award. He has been in residence at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the Rauschenberg Residency; the Joan Mitchell Center, Crow’s Shadow Golden Spot Residency Program, Caldera, and Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s Creative Exchange Lab. He holds a BA and MFA in Art Practice from Portland State University. 

 

Image 1: Butterfly Village at Dawn, 2023, acrylic and flashe on canvas, 24 x 30 inches,
Image 2: Portrait of the Artist,  photo credit: Mark Poucher