Exhibit of conceptual art opens Sept. 20 at Ripon College

An exhibit of conceptual art by Wisconsin artist CV Peterson will open with a reception at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, at Ripon College. The exhibit will run through Oct. 18 in Caestecker Gallery, C.J. Rodman Center for the Arts.

Both the reception and the exhibit are free and open to the public.

CV Peterson is a multidisciplinary artist currently living in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. They received a degree in studio art and Japanese studies from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2010. They also received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Peterson also studied sumi-e painting (also known as ink wash painting) at the Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata-Shi, Japan.

Peterson has had showings at the Chicago Architecture Biennale, 6018 N Gallery in Chicago, Shanghai Zhu Qizhan Art Museum in China and several other locations. They also have performed at the Forward Fringe Performance Festival, Out of Site Chicago and the Performance Arcade in Wellington, New Zealand.

“‘Our Legacy: Plastisphere in the Mykitas Epoch’ is my exhibition that explores a playful futuristic-dystopic view of the planet during the era post-humanity, when plastic is our lasting legacy,” the artist says. “Currently, plastic fills our homes, our landfills, our oceans and our very lives. Plastic is beginning to merge with the crust of our planet and enter our bodies.

“Geologists have labeled the type of rock that is emerging from stone and plastic ‘Plastiglomerate.’ The response to these drastic changes is adaptation and evolution by certain organisms around the planet. Various types of fungi are gaining the ability to consume plastic. In my futuristic landscape, I postulate that fungi will become the leading life form.”

Peterson just concluded curating and exhibiting an eco-art exhibition at the Pablo Center in Eau Claire, Wisconsin; is teaching an honors course at UW-Eau Claire on the intersection of art and science; and has a solo exhibit at Gustavus Adolphus College for the Nobel Conference on Climate. More information can be found at the artist’s website.