Artists for New BAM Exhibition Take Special Look at Pandemic’s Impact

Image: Tastes Like Air, Cameron Buckley
JONESBORO – “I Think We Should See Other People,” a new exhibition, will open with a 5-6:30 p.m. reception in Bradbury Art Museum at Arkansas State University Thursday, May 27, and continue until July 7.

The exhibition features artwork exploring 14 months of contagious pathogens, individual isolation, and societal collapse.

Memphis transmedia artist Cameron Buckley, who is assistant professor of new media and game design at Arkansas State, and multimedia Boston area artist Daniel Alexander Smith combine an eclectic range of media from oil painting to artificial intelligence to wooden sculpture to video installation, in order to construct an introspective vision of the Covid crisis.

Smith’s figural work depicts the flattening of individual experience during the pandemic, while Buckley’s conceptual installations portray the transformation of social culture and media.

Since 2015, Buckley and Smith have collaborated on new media artworks which dismantle political and geographic boundaries facing artists in today’s fragmented cultural landscape.

Buckley has exhibited his work internationally at biennales, festivals, museums and alternative exhibitions spaces. Smith is design manager at Studio Echelman, where he oversees development of Janet Echelman’s architectural fiber sculptures. Independent of the studio, Smith creates multimedia artworks which have been commissioned for projects such as those funded by Google, Epson, Boston Cyberarts and The Illuminus Festival, and Hubweek.

BAM is in Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Dr. Admission to the reception and exhibition is free.

Due to the pandemic, the museum will have a limited capacity of 60 visitors, and walk-in groups may not exceed 10 people. Groups larger than 10 should call ahead for a reservation.

BAM staff will be wearing face coverings and taking other steps to help ensure a safe experience. Guests also are required to wear face coverings and maintain a distance of six feet from other guests. The hours of operation are Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.