2/23/2007
Two School of Art Alumni and One Current Student
Selected into Texas Biennial 2007
Written by Douglas Chapman
Two School of Art alumni, Mark Collop and Corey Escoto along with current student Tom Matthews, will be displaying their artwork at this year’s prestigious Texas Biennial 2007 in Austin.
The Texas Biennial, was first presented in 2005 by Bolm Studios, Camp Fig, the Dougherty Arts Center, Gallery Lombardi and Eastside Coop of Austin. These art spaces joined forces to develop and promote the many talented artists who live in Texas.
This year the founding venues are joined by Site 1808 to exhibit the work of 39 artists from throughout the state March 1 to April 15. Paintings, drawings, photography, and mixed media work, as well as video, sculpture, and site specific installations will be on view.
Collop, Escoto and Matthews were selected from over 600 submissions by the five juror panel which included Ursula Davila, Assistant Curator of Latin American Art, Blanton Museum of Art AUSTIN, Fairfax Dorn, Executive Director, Ballroom MARFA; Kate Green, Curator of Education and Exhibitions, Artpace SAN ANTONIO; Valerie Cassel Oliver, Associate Curator, Contemporary Arts Museum HOUSTON; and John Pomara, Artist & Assistant Professor, University of Texas DALLAS.
Mark Collop, who received his BFA in painting in 2004 from Tech is from Dallas. He will earn his MFA in painting from Texas Women’s University this May. “I am really excited about being selected for this exhibition,” Collop said. “The icing on the cake is showing with old friends whom I greatly respect as artists and people.”
Collop said he is currently interested in, “blurring the lines of demarcation between art and life.” As opposed to the static art viewing experience, Collop said he investigates the boundary between viewer and object by creating installations where the viewer may physically participate in the environment as a collaborator and not just merely a spectator. Collop’s works will be on display at the Bolm Studios.
Corey Escoto is from Amarillo and earned his BFA in painting from Texas Tech in 2005. He will receive the MFA in Visual Arts this May from Washington University in St. Louis. “It is a great opportunity,” Escoto said, ”especially for emerging artists like ourselves to have our work selected by these art-world professionals. 
Because there remains the possibility that the show will travel, many people may get a chance to see our work all over the state,” he said.
Escoto explained that he is currently working on two contrasting series of works both inspired by vintage United Nations memorabilia that are the result of his, "invented and naively idealistic world." Escoto explained, "The two works included in the Biennial are from a series of oversized (10-12 times enlarged), cutout representations of selections from the fictional Library of Audio, Visual, and Textual Sources of Inspiration and Motivation." He added, "These cumbersome drawings and paintings of outdated and nearly obsolete books, cassettes, and videos are simultaniously optimistic yet cursed by ineptitude." Escoto's works will be on display at the Dougherty Arts Center.
Tom Matthews, who is originally from Sikeston, Missouri, will receive the MFA in sculpture from Tech this May. He earned his B.S. in Psychology in 1984 from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. “I am honored to have been chosen as one of the 39 artists for the biennial,” Matthews said. “I am also really happy to be in the company of Collop and Escoto too.” For the Texas Biennial, Matthews was invited to install a new work at Site 1808.
For more information on the Texas Biennial 2007, please visit: http://www.texasbiennial.com/