The University of Findlay’s Lea Gallery presents Rumors of War, an exhibition of mixed-media artwork by artist and educator Ivan Fortushniak, now through September 18. A public reception will be held Friday, August 21, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Virginia B. Gardner Fine Arts Pavilion.
Fortushniak, who earned his MFA from the University of Cincinnati, is a professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions across the United States and internationally, including exhibitions in Paraguay and Cuba. His artwork is held in numerous public and private collections, and he has received several awards for his work, including the Directors Award from the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts and a first-place purchase award from Eastern Kentucky University.
In Rumors of War, Fortushniak examines the political, social and religious conflicts that contribute to the devastation of war. Inspired in part by current events in Eastern Europe, his work focuses on vulnerable populations (including women, children and the elderly) and the human consequences of international conflict.
The exhibition also draws on Fortushniak’s fascination with historical images of war, particularly photographs from the Civil War, the World Wars and the Cold War. Grainy photographic reproductions, art-historical imagery and elements of extraterrestrial folklore are layered together to create connections between different moments in history, memory, and imagination.
Fortushniak combines photo transfers, watercolor, graphite and oil glazing with abstract marks, contrasting colors and layered forms. The resulting works move between realism and abstraction, creating atmospheric surfaces that blur the boundaries between historical events and science fiction.
