Deconstructed art re?ects war

A group of artists is using the simple task of cutting and pasting to reflect a much more complicated concept: global conflict.

Susanne Slavick, an art professor at Carnegie Mellon University, will hold an opening reception for her new art exhibition, “Cutting Losses,” at Hanes Art Center today.

Slavick said the idea for the show came from a book she has since published, entitled “Out of Rubble.”

“I started thinking of another sort of subset of artists who deal with the absence and loss created by war or caused by war through the actual process of cutting to reveal what has been lost — or the holes that are left,” Slavick said.

Heide Fasnacht, Lenka Clayton and the Decolonizing Architecture Artist Residency with Sara Pellegrini all contributed work to “Cutting Losses.”

As soon as Fasnacht learned about the “Out of Rubble” book project, she said she emailed Slavick about her interest.

Although it was too late for Fasnacht to be a part of the book project, Slavick still wanted her to participate in the “Cutting Losses” exhibition.

Fasnacht said she is interested in the World War II era because of her German heritage, even though her family was not present during the Nazi occupation.

Fasnacht said this artwork presents an alternative to what is typically seen in museums.

“This is as much of the history of art as one beautiful framed object protected by a guard in a museum,” Fasnacht said.

Clayton said her piece in the show is based on the current conflict between Lebanon and Israel.

Clayton’s work interprets cutting by including digital alterations of buildings destroyed by warfare in Lebanon.

She said she edited the photos and recreated manifestations of what the buildings looked like before they were destroyed.

“I was interested in digitally repairing a broken situation of some sort, and just as I had the idea there was a bombing in Lebanon,” Clayton said.

“And I was just interested to see what would happen if you digitally repaired something, because, clearly, the in-real-life version was not repaired.”

Slavick said she hopes this exhibition makes people question why war is still used to solve conflicts.

“There has got to be a better way to solve conflicts of any kind whether they’re economic or ideological — because almost no one ever wins in a war,” Slavick said.

“I’m hoping it will make people question why we’re still involved in what I think is a pretty barbaric activity.”

Contact the desk editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.