BROOKINGS – South Dakota State University’s School of Design has chosen Neal Rock as its fourth Stuart Artist-in-Residence. He will be on campus Sept. 10 through Oct. 5.
Rock will deliver a public lecture at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 18 at the South Dakota Art Museum Auditorium. There will be an open studio event at 4 p.m. Oct. 4 at the Ritz Gallery in Grove Hall. Rock was chosen from nearly 45 proposals.
“Neal Rock’s professional record of residencies, international exhibitions and his unique approach to making art exemplify the goals of the Stuart Artist-in-Residence Search Committee,” said Scott Wallace, the committee’s chair and a professor of sculpture in the School of Design.
Previous selections are Paige Mostowy (2015), Izel Vargas (2016) and Mayumi Amada (2017).
A Welsh-born visual artist, Rock’s creative practice takes an expansive approach to painting and drawing, incorporating printmaking, object making and photography. He was formally educated in the United Kingdom, holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Gloucestershire, a Master of Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design and a studio arts doctorate in painting from the Royal College of Art.
Since the early 2000s, Rock has exhibited extensively across Europe and the United States, with solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, New York, Kansas City, Paris, London and Amsterdam. He has undertaken residencies at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Yaddo, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and was the 2015-16 Grant Wood Painting Fellow at the University of Iowa. He currently works in San Bernardino, California, and London.
The Artist-in-Residence studio space is located in Grove Hall’s Ritz Gallery, which is open during normal business hours Monday through Friday during Rock’s time at State.
The events are free and open to the public. For parking and additional information, please contact the School of Design at 688-4103 or sdsu.schoolofdesign@sdstate.edu.
This event is sponsored by the South Dakota State University School of Design and funded by the Joe and Signe Stuart Fund.
Courtesy photo: Neal Rock’s work includes “Prosopon 0416/01” and “Prosopon 0416/02.” Composed of pigmented silicone, styrofoam and MDF. This installation view is from London in 2016.
