Keeara Rhoades
The Prize Inside
October 3 – November 7
Exhibition Reception
Thursday, October 17, 5 pm - 8 pm
Artist Conversation at 6:30 pm
The Northcutt Steele Gallery at Montana State University Billings is pleased to present The Prize Inside, an exhibition by artist, Keeara Rhoades. Rhoades is an Assistant Professor of Art in New Media Photography at MSUB.
Keeara Rhoades, Redshift Waves, Arcade Gaze, & Other Things, 3-channel video panorama, 2019. ©Keeara Rhoades.
According to Rhoades, “I am interested in symbiotic relationships and the narratives that unfold when introducing conditions of action, motion, and emotion before the camera.” The artist's recent work combines constructed landscapes with audio narratives to prompt character action within a bounded arena, exposing tensions and bonds that develop within.
Keeara Rhoades, Cracked Clay Terrain with The Prize Inside assemblages (placed on Photogrammetric Scale with cross non-coded markers), Archival Pigment Print, 42”x42”, 2019. ©Keeara Rhoades.
The Prize Inside is comprised of video and interactive installations and is accompanied by an intriguing cast of characters, props, and historical and contemporary documents. Rhoades creates multimedia meta-narratives that employ themes of memetics, imitation theory, and human adaptive systems for meaning-making. She explores gaps between liminal clarity and misunderstood realities created by 21st-century technologies that feed the human desire to see and control.
Rhoades was born and raised in the Wyoming side of the Black Hills. Graduating Summa Cum Laude (BFA 2005, Herron School of Art, Indianapolis), she continued her studies in PhotoMedia at the University of Washington (MFA 2008), and has studied studio art in Rome. Rhoades has exhibited nationally and internationally, with productions in Italy, Spain, and China.
Rhoades's recent productions include an art film inspired by the life and work of Arshile Gorky created for the Yellowstone Art Museum, and a multi-media performance, “Digging in the Dugout," hosted by 4ZERO7 Gallery, Billings.
For more information about the artist visit: www.keeararhoades.net.
Jodi Lightner, Untitled (Chaos), Acrylic/Ink on Mylar, 62”x 36”, 2019. ©Jodi Lightner.
Featured in the gallery adjacent to Rhoades's exhibition, are recent works by current and former MSUB Department of Art faculty. This group exhibition reveals the dynamic exchange of influences and ideas that constitute the educational experience of learning about art and presents an inspiring dialogue—about creativity, process, production, and understanding—between teachers and learners in the journey of making and expressing.
The work of MSUB Department of Art faculty in their classrooms, and in their lives as artists, is central to their contribution to the department, to the university, and to the broader community. The rich variety of artwork exhibited, which ranges widely across media, intentions, approaches, and processes–illustrates the breadth of achievement, insight, and ability the faculty offers to students and to our community.
Artists included are Renee Audette, Mark Earnhart, Neil Jussila, Jodi Lightner, Randi O’Brien, Dr. Mara Pierce, and Marcia Selsor.
A catered reception for both exhibitions will be held in the 1st-floor lobby of the Liberal Arts Building immediately in front of the gallery beginning at 5 pm on Thursday, October 17th.
A conversation between Keeara Rhoades and Gallery Director Dr. Leanne Gilbertson begins at 6:30 pm. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. Parking on campus is free after 5 pm.
