JOHN HITCHCOCK´S  RESIDENCE AT PROYECTO'ACE: INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR VISUAL ARTS IN SOUTH AMERICA (Press release)

From February 16 to March 8 th ,  John Hitchcock  will be in Buenos Aires, Argentina as an artist in residence at the  Proyecto'ace, International Center for Visual Arts in South America . During his residency Hitchcock will present a large-scale variable size screenprinted installation  titled Expansión  in the  Políglota Gallery  (March 5 th  through the 21 st , 2008) and present a print action titled  Objetivos Moviles / Moving Targets/  Transporte Cultural on the train system between  Proyecto'ace  to the  Centro de Producción y Edición Gráfica de Buenos Aires (Litho Workshop) in Saénz Peña, Province of Buenos Aires . The  Objetivos Moviles / Moving Targets exhibition will consist of 100 invited international artists from South America and North America.  Objetivos Moviles / Moving Targets  is a co-curatorial project organized by Alicia Candiani, (Director of Proyecto'ace) and John Hitchcock (Associate Professor of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA). Schedule: • Print Action in the train  for Objetivos Moviles/ Moving Targets: February 29, 2008 • Opening reception for  Expansión in the Políglota Gallery: March 6th (Thursday) at 7pm at the Poliglota Room of Proyecto' ace. • Artist talk at Políglota Gallery: • Artist presentation of international print at the  Centro de Producción y Edición Gráfica de Buenos Aires (Litho Workshop) in Saénz Peña: ARTIST STATEMENT FOR JOHN HITCHCOCK Expansión  is a large-scale variable size screenprinted installation by  John Hitchcock  at the  Proyecto'ace, International Center for Visual Arts in South America, Políglota Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina . The hand printed repeat patterns act as a metaphor for change, cycles, endurance, collaboration, and intent.

The installation consists of mythological hybrid creatures (buffalo, wolf, boar, deer, moose) and military weaponry (tanks and helicopters) based on his childhood memories and stories of growing up in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma next to Ft Sill field artillery military base. Hitchcock explores notions of good, evil, death, and life cycles. His depictions of beasts, animals, and machines act as a metaphors for human behavior and cycles of violence. His artwork is a  response to intrusive behaviour by humans towards nature and other humans.

On one level, the repetitive x marks comments on the US government's regional, national and international policies on human beings to the forcible relocation and removal of people from one location to another. On another level,  Expansión  is a statement about current events such as the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the major conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis, and the recent announcement by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public

Health  that  "An estimated 655,000 Iraqis have died since 2003."

"I stand by the figure that a lot of innocent people have lost their life...and that troubles me, and it grieves me," Mr. Bush told reporters at the White House

MOVING TARGETS STATEMENT The  MOVING TARGETS  print exhibition of invited international artists was originally presented as  MOVING TARGETS  on a train between Berlin, Germany and Poznan, Poland (co-organized by Keith Christensen and John Hitchcock). Moving Targets SOUTH AMERICA / NORTH AMERICA is the second in a series of international co- curated exhibitions. This Project  involves presenting the print medium in a specific and meaningful way. This proposal is for an international print exhibition about social concerns moving via public transportation across borders. This concept ties to the rich tradition that printmaking serves as a vehicle for expression of discontent and critique. The works of Goya's Disasters of War series to the works of José Posada and recently to Leon Golub spoke to their times through these means. The distinctiveness of the project is that the context becomes the literal vehicle. The first exhibition of this project on the train crossed the German-Polish border to show the images as commentary and visions.  MOVING TARGETS  is the project title and term (to be translated to German, Polish, and now Spanish ( Objetivos Moviles ) to signify the difficulty in stopping something (shooting down–in military terms). They are presented under the title "Moving Targets" to demonstrate the potential of artistic prints as agents promoting reflection and change.

JOHN HITCHCOCK BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT John Hitchcock was born in Lawton, Oklahoma and grew up in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma. He is an Artist and Associate Professor of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he teaches screenprinting, relief cut, digital mixed media prints, and installation art. He earned his MFA in printmaking and photography at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas and received his BFA from Cameron University, Lawton, Oklahoma.  He is the recipient of many honors and awards including: the American Photography Institute, National Graduate Seminar Fellowship at New York University, Tisch School of Arts; Jerome Foundation grant, Minneapolis, Minnesota; and the  Vilas Associate Grant, University of Wisconsin-Madison .  Hitchcock's teaching experience includes: Assistant Professor of Studio Art at the University of Minnesota, Morris and Visiting Artist at Texas Tech University. His current works are a blend of printmaking, digital imaging, video, and installation that depict personal, social, and political views. Group Exhibitions of his art works include: Kumu Art Museum of Estonia (Tallinn, Estonia), Dalarnas Museum (Falun, Sweden), London Print Studio (London, England, UK), Universität der Künste (Berlin, Germany), Academy of Fine Art (Poznan, Poland), The American University (Cairo, Cairo, Egypt), International Center of Bethlehem, (Bethlehem, Palestine), The Nathan Homestead Community Arts Centre (Manurewa, New Zealand), Toimairangi School of Maori Visual Culture Te Wananga o Aotearoa, (Hastings Hawkes Bay, New Zealand), International Darmstadt Waldkunstpfad /Forest-Art-Path (Darmstadt, Germany), TransitARTen - Vogelfrei 5, Kunstentdeckungen in Privatgärten (Darmstadt, Germany), South African Museum (Cape Town, South Africa), Museu de Arte de Brasilia (Brasilia, Brazil), Seacourt Collaborative Press (Bangor, Ireland), IV International Biennial of Photography (Reus Catalonia, Spain), Museum of Contemporary Art (Santiago de Chile), Museum of Arts & Design ( New York City), Eiteljorg Museum (Indianapolis, Indiana), Naples Museum of Art (Naples, Florida), Philbrook Museum of Art (Tulsa, Oklahoma), Anchorage Museum of Art History (Anchorage, Alaska), Weisman Art Museum (Minneapolis, Minnesota), Institute of American Indian Art Museum (Santa Fe, New Mexico), 5+5 Gallery (Brooklyn, New York), New York University Tisch School of Arts (New York), Exit Art (New York), The Print Center (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and Anton Gallery (Washington, DC). Recent Solo Exhibitions include: Proyecto'ace, International Center for Visual Arts in South America (Buenos Aires, Argentina), University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland), Syracuse University (Syracuse, New York), The University of Arizona, School of Art (Tucson, Arizona), AICH Gallery (New York City), North Dakota Museum of Art (Grand Forks, North Dakota), Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, Michigan), Macalester College Art Gallery (St Paul, Minnesota), University of North Texas (Denton, Texas), Wisconsin Academy Gallery (Madison, Wisconsin), University of Oklahoma (Norman, Oklahoma), University of Northern Iowa (Cedar Falls, Iowa), Intermedia Arts (Minneapolis, Minnesota), and Living Arts of Tulsa (Tulsa, Oklahoma

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