Three exhibitions opening at UB Anderson Gallery

The UB Art Galleries will present three new exhibitions next month in the UB Anderson Gallery.

Opening on Sept. 15 are the solo exhibitions “Kambui Olujimi: Zulu Time” and “Ernesto Burgos: Implications” and “Collected Views: I Am Here,” a group exhibition of works from the UB Art Galleries’ permanent collection.

An opening reception for all three exhibitions will take place from 6-8 p.m. Sept. 15 in the gallery. “Zulu Time” is on view through Dec. 2, while “Implications” and “Collected Views will close Jan. 6.

“Kambui Olujimi: Zulu Time”

Kambui Olujimi is a Brooklyn native whose multidisciplinary practice calls attention to the assumptions that underlie our understanding of the world at large. In “Kambui Olujimi: Zulu Time,” the artist explores, among other concerns, the interlocking systems of power and invisible hierarchies that impact our daily lives. Using a broad range of artistic mediums and approaches, from glass blowing to wheat pasting, Olujimi invites the viewer to engage in an open dialogue about how we see and experience the world and each other.

Time itself manifests as the most invisible yet pervasive force in this exhibition, as implied by the show’s title. “Zulu time” is the shorthand term for the world’s standardized mode of tracking time. Specifically, it references the time at the prime meridian (longitude 0 degrees) — the invisible and ultimately arbitrary line from which all global time zones are calculated.

Since Great Britain was the world’s foremost maritime power when the concept of latitude and longitude originated, the starting point for designating longitude is based on the location of the British Naval Observatory in Greenwich, England. Thus, Zulu time literally revolves around Western norms for structuring a day.

Olujimi reframes the notion of universal time as an intangible yet ever-present expression of dominance and an imposition of control—a residue of empire — offering visitors an opportunity to consider these timely concepts through the artist’s compelling two-dimensional and sculptural work.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Olujimi will show an additional video work and expand upon his series “T-Minus Ø” outside of the gallery with flags at various locations throughout Buffalo, including outside the UB Anderson Gallery and at Silo City. 

“Kambui Olujimi: Zulu Time” was organized by the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Funding for the exhibition was provided by The DeAtley Family Foundation, MillerCoors, Terry Family Foundation and WhiteFish Partners LLC. The UB Art Galleries’ presentation is supported in part by Jordan and Holly Levy.

“Ernesto Burgos: Implications”

The sweeping gestures of Ernesto Burgos’ work exist almost as an affront to gravity. The sculptures rest in a natural state of tension, formed through the manipulation of cardboard, fiberglass and resin. The physical act of transforming the materials is countered with the artist lessening his control over every detail and allowing for the final forms to take shape by chance.

Once the form is finalized, Burgos responds on the surface through his paint application. With a nod to abstract expressionism, the personality of each comes through even more with the addition of its color palette and gestural mark making.

Spread throughout the atrium of the Anderson Gallery, the sculptures act as a reverberating composition in relation to the unique interior and exterior space of the gallery. There is vibrancy in the gestural sculptures; the abstract, yet organic forms shift, fold and swoop. Through his investigation into form and material, and how these melt together, the works imply movement and expression, while coaxing the viewer to contemplate them from all sides.

A native of Santa Clara, California, Burgos received a BFA from California College for Arts and an MFA from New York University. He has held solo exhibitions at Kate Werble Gallery, New York; Revolver Galleria, Lima, Peru; Mier Gallery, Los Angeles; The Goma, Madrid, Spain; and Halsey Mckay Gallery, East Hampton, New York. His work is in the collection of the Kunstmuseum Magdeburg in Germany.

“Collected Views: I Am Here”

With the current heightened emphasis on place, regulations surrounding borders, and those situated inside and outside of them, “Collected Views: I Am Here” considers the landscape. Landscape painting, no matter how serenely rendered, is political, as it presents a view regulated by a boundary, whether it be political, socioeconomic or physical.

Landscapes are unifying: nonspecific or abstracted landscapes allow viewers from vastly different backgrounds to project their own ideas of place — be it home or fantasy — into them. “Collected Views: I Am Here” presents more than 40 works of landscape, a few interiors and abstractions that occupy the spaces in between the two, all from the UB Art Galleries’ permanent collection.

This grouping explores themes of inside/outside, text and image, and place. Of the few interiors and figurative works presented here, the people and animals depicted offer the viewer an isolated glimpse of the interior in relation to an imagined world outside of the scene.

Specifically considering the text-based works in the exhibition through the lens of graffiti — a version of painting in the landscape fraught with tension — the work also clearly states, “I am here!” To declare “I am here!” — be it through mark-making, dialogue, or political action — is to exist.

Artists include Pierre Alechinksy, Carlos Almaraz, Karel Appel, Norman Bluhm, Fritz Bultman, Virginia Cuthbert-Elliot. Jim Dine, Sam Francis, Michael Kessler, Bruce Lowney, Barbara Nessim, Charlotte Park, George Segal, Jochen Seidel, Arnold Shives, James Suzuki, Antoni Tapies, Francisco Toledo and Robert Whitman.

The exhibition is curated by Annie Bielski, an MFA student in the Department of Art.

The UB Anderson Gallery is located at 1 Martha Jackson Place, off Englewood Avenue near Kenmore Avenue and the South Campus. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and from 1-5 p.m. on Sunday.  Admission is free.