Artist John Unger to Talk About Graveyard Sculpture Installation

Artist John Unger to Talk About Graveyard Sculpture Installation

Charleston Times-Courier, Charleston, IL, February 12, 2000, C9

CHARLESTON— Chicago artist John Unger will present a gallery talk about his life-size graveyard sculpture installation at the Tarble Arts Center, Eastern Illinois University.

The talk will be at 2 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free and the public is invited. The exhibition of the installation continues through March 5.

Titled "Radio Ancestrale," Unger's installation resembles walled graveyards seen in New Orleans and Haiti and draws inspiration from a variety of African and Caribbean cultures. States Unger, "My work taps deeply into trickster traditions of African folk art, ritual and magic."

His work borrows from the cosmology of West Africa, the Congo, and Haitian Vodoun as well as "the deep, night-time music and life of the Mississippi delta." Sound is also a key element of Unger's work, so the installation is experienced rather than just looked at.

The tombstones and graveyard walls are made of wood and concrete. radios, ceramic figurines, toys, tools and other every-day objects are imbedded in the tombstones. Sound and music from a CD created by Unger is "broadcast" through each of the radio's speakers to envelope the viewer in sound.

Unger has exhibited at the Hyde Park Arts Center, Intuit: the Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago, and other Chicago galleries. The "Radio Ancestrale," project is funded in part by the Excellence in Fine Arts Visiting Artist Series of the EIU College of Arts and Humanities.

(details about gallery hours and address elided... Visit the The Tarble Arts Center website for current information.)

Visit the Radio Ancestrale website to see the entire exhibit.