Dittmar Gallery Exhibition Explores Life Outside Artist Studio

Eduardo De Soignie, Conflict, acrylic, latex paint on three panels of wood, 88" x 80"

EVANSTON, Ill. --- A compilation of works by Cuban-born, multidisciplinary artist Eduardo De Soignie will be showcased at Northwestern University's Dittmar Memorial Gallery from Feb. 12 through March 17.

The Dittmar Gallery is located on the first floor of Norris University Center, 1999 Campus Drive, on the Evanston campus.

Titled "Ex Vivo: Out of the Living," the exhibition explores what life is like outside the walls of De Soigne's studio. The exhibition and a gallery reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, are free and open to the public.

The conflict between place and identity has been the central focus of De Soignie's work ever since the Chicago resident left his native Cuba at age 18.

"Ex Vivo" will be comprised of 14 paintings completed in the past three years of De Soignie's career. One large scale work, titled "Everything Comes from a Foreign Land," is 30 feet long and depicts the stories of different peoples who have traveled across oceans to America.

"As in Chinese landscape painting, water is always present in my work as a vital element in the landscape and plays an integral part in the mark-making process," said De Soignie. "Cuban folklore has also played an essential role in the themes and elements that comprise my recent work."

De Soignie studied Chinese landscape painting and the Chicago Imagist painters at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. For more information on the artist and a slide show of some of his works, visit http://www.eduardodesoignie.com.

The Dittmar Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily this winter. For more information, call the gallery at (847) 491-2348 or Norris University Center at (847) 491-2300, e-mail dittmargallery@northwestern.edu or go to the Dittmar Web site at http://www.dittmar.northwestern.edu.