Craigslist's Mirrors Gallery on Display at UK Chandler Hospital
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 13, 2016) – A new art exhibit, featuring the work of Eric Oglander, is currently on display at the University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital. The collection, entitled Craigslist Mirrors, features photographs of mirrors taken by various patrons of Craigslist.
People sell everything on Craigslist: bikes, dining room sets, artwork, cars and notably (for Oglander’s purposes) mirrors. An avid user of the site, Oglander first stumbled across a ghostly image of two reflected figures in 2013. Since that time, he has collected over 3,000 images of mirrors that he regularly posts on Tumblr and Instagram, documenting beautiful, banal, and surprisingly strange moments.
In this particular project, Oglander acts as visual archaeologist, archivist, and artist: unearthing, organizing, and exhibiting the almost certainly unintentionally artistic images created for a purely commercial transaction. The subjects reflected are infinitely varied: an interrupted landscape, household pets, couples, cars, wildlife, clouds, and even people dressed graduation day gowns. Viewed individually, these images feel like footnotes of a larger story. Viewed collectively, they offer a portrait of American life and society that is at once devastatingly commonplace but also captivating; basements and garages, life, love and change.
Oglander’s interest in art was sparked during his childhood living in the country outside of Nashville where he was raised by two working artists. He spent much of his adolescence searching the woods and riverbeds seeking interesting objects like arrowheads, reptiles and wildflowers. These activities lead him to identify strongly as a collector, as well as an artist, often finding the line between the two too difficult to distinguish.
The exhibit will be on display until March or April 2017, in the West Rotating Gallery in Pavilion A in the groundfloor hallway that leads to the UK Chandler Emergency Department.
UK is the University for Kentucky. At UK, we are educating more students, treating more patients with complex illnesses and conducting more research and service than at any time in our 150-year history. To read more about the UK story and how you can support continued investment in your university and the Commonwealth, go to: uky.edu/uk4ky. #uk4ky #seeblue
MEDIA CONTACT: Olivia McCoy, olivia.mccoy1@uky.edu, (859) 257-1076; Phillip Jones, phillipmarch@gmail.com
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