Marnie Weber, Unreal Paradise: Collage Works from 1992-2022
February 17–March 26, 2022
Film Screenings:
March 2, 6–8pm, Marnie Weber, The Day of Forevermore, Ruth Taylor Recital Hall, Dicke Art Building
March 11–27, online only, Marnie Weber, The Cabin of Mothra Crone, @neidorffgallery for viewing portal March 23, 6–9pm, Mike Kelley, Day is Done, Ruth Taylor Recital Hall, Dicke Art Building
March 26, 1–3pm, Marnie Weber, The Day of Forevermore, Ruth Taylor Recital Hall, Dicke Art Building
Gallery Location:
Michael and Noémi Neidorff Art Gallery, Trinity University
Department of Art and Art History, Dicke Art Building
One Trinity Place, San Antonio, TX 78212
Gallery Hours:
Tuesday–Saturday, 1–5pm and by appointment
This survey exhibition of collage work spans 30 years and features Marnie Weber’s resplendent, uncanny worlds that conflate the imagined and the sentimental. Tenaciously realized, her mixed-media collages are carefully staged and colorized dreamscapes inhabited by a wondrous roster of anthropomorphs and archetypes. Unreal Paradise takes us on a journey through absurd landscapes with the allure of desire, magic, and loss.
Marnie Weber’s first feature film, The Day of Forevermore, explores conflict between a daughter and mother (an old witch who has sold her soul to the devil) as the young woman struggles for independence against her mother’s attempts of indoctrination. Set within the detritus of a no-man’s limbo, populated by grotesques and giants, this poetic narrative explores the parity of good and evil. It is a coming-of-age story.
Weber’s film will be paired with an on-campus screening of Day is Done by Mike Kelley, who remains one of the seminal American artists of our time. Weber and Kelley were contemporaries, friends, and occasional collaborators. These films share many visual elements including a DIY aesthetic, surrealist influences, archetypal characters, and Halloween-inspired costuming. Kelley’s feature-length musical-film oscillates between irreverent humor and dreamlike sequences sourced from hundreds of “extracurricular activity” photos culled from high school yearbooks which represent (according to Kelley) “socially accepted rituals of deviance.”
A special premiere of Marnie Weber’s latest short film, The Cabin of Mothra Crone, will also be available for a limited time. Check in with the Michael and Noémi Neidorff Art Gallery’s social media sites @neidorffgallery for access to the viewing portal.
This exhibition, lecture, and the corresponding film screenings are produced as components of the 2021-22 Stieren Arts Enrichment Series and is made possible through the generosity of Jane and the late Arthur Stieren.