Sculptor & installation artist Allison Lacher presents "That's Love, Baby"

The University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery announces That’s Love, Baby, an exhibition of sculptural and installation-based works by artist Allison Lacher. The exhibition runs from February 2 through March 8, 2012. A reception will take place on February 9 from 5:30-8 p.m.

Allison Lacher, a sculptor and installation artist, playfully explores themes of young love, domesticity, and naiveté with the exhibition That’s Love Baby. Lacher aims to create emotionally charged work that is narrative-based, but non-conclusive, and reliant on an atmosphere of fantasy imbued with the subtle presence of reality. Many of the pieces featured in this exhibit were initiated during a 2011 one-month artist residency award at the Prairie Center of the Arts in Peoria.

“At the time I was very much interested exploring the transition from being naive to being experienced, largely in terms of emotion and relationships,” said Lacher. “I wanted the work to reflect a nearly unblemished naiveté that appears right on the verge of, well, knowing better. I wanted to give visualization to that emotional state as it was barely underway and imminent.”

Lacher is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Visual Arts and Gallery Manager at UIS. Her past exhibition venues include Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, N.J.; Cactus Bra in San Antonio, Texas; The Salt Lake Contemporary Art Center in Salt Lake City, Utah; and the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vt. Lacher was a 2009 Illinois Arts Council Fellowship recipient.

Lacher, originally from Pittsburgh, Pa., discovered installation art as an adolescent when she visited the Mattress Factory, one of the world’s only site-specific installation art museums, which is located in Pittsburgh.

“I suppose it was fate that I grew up in a city where such a place existed, and luckily for me, I had a very supportive family that let me work there despite its location in a rough area of town and the overall perceived mystery that they then attributed to ‘weird’ installation projects,” she said. “I spent so much time in that place just lurking around to help artists and be involved any way I could. My time there all but defined my trajectory as an artist.”

During her time at the Mattress Factory, she worked as an assistant on long-term projects for artists such as Ann Hamilton, James Turell, Greer Lankton, and Yayoi Kusama.

That’s Love, Baby will open at the UIS Visual Arts Gallery on Thursday, February 2, and will run through Thursday, March 8. A reception will take place on Thursday, February 9 from 5:30-8 p.m. The artist will be present throughout the reception to engage with the audience and to present a brief “artist talk” that addresses her work and concepts. Complimentary refreshments will be provided. This event is free and open to the public.

The UIS Visual Arts Gallery is centrally located on the UIS campus in the Health and Science Building, room 201 (HSB 201). Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information on That’s Love, Baby and future exhibitions, please visit the UIS Visual Arts Gallery website at www.uis.edu/visualarts/gallery, or contact the gallery by phone at 217/206-6506 or email: gallery@uis.edu.