An online exhibition of art prints curated by undergraduate art history students at the University of Kent’s School of Arts will take place from 10 May to 10 August 2021.
Entitled Fascinating Fears (trigger warning: some artworks display scenes of violence and sexual violence; we do not recommend the exhibition to children), the virtual exhibition will feature works by artists such as the Old Masters Albrecht Dürer, Salvator Rosa, and Francisco Goya; modern artists like Salvador Dali and Michael Ayrton; great Japanese masters like Katsushika Hokusai; and the contemporary artists Ana Maria Pacheco, Marcelle Hanselaar, Marcus Rees Roberts, and Jake and Dinos Chapman.
The exhibition addresses four sub-themes:
‘Nightmares Creatures’, which explores how monsters have personified various fears, and induce the uncanny feeling of horror
‘Face of Fears’, which displays the facial and bodily expression of human fears and explores the various shades of this feeling, allowing for an audience to see fear expressed in others
‘Japanese horrors’, exhibiting the ghosts and natural forces that have haunted Japan for centuries, becoming an essential part of its cultural folklore.
‘Female Fears’, which explores violence against women and the fear of their sexuality in both historical and contemporary prints, allowing the viewer to reflect upon the differences provoked by gender and social inequalities and of who is afraid, and of what.
Fascinating Fears is the result of the ‘Print Collecting and Curating’ module in Art History. Introduced in 2006, this module gives students the opportunity both to curate a museum-quality exhibition of their design and to acquire prints for the Kent Print Exhibition. This is the 9th exhibition resulting from this course.
For the exhibition students interviewed leading contemporary artists Marcelle Hanselaar and Marcus Rees Roberts, whose works are included, and the expert on Japanese prints Ellis Tinios, who taught a class for the module.
Dr Ben Thomas, convenor of the module, said: ‘Fear is a feeling we all share and understand, perhaps particularly during the current pandemic. The students have curated an exhibition that explores this fundamental human emotion, and how it has been expressed through art in different times and cultures. They have adapted brilliantly to the constraints of lockdown in devising this online exhibition.’
You can follow Fascinating Fears on Instagram.