Artist creates immersive environment for gallery visitors

Expect to become immersed in “Flow Chart: Diffusion,” a new installation enveloping Eastern Oregon University’s Nightingale Gallery this January.

This distinctive solo exhibition by Joe Page, of Northbrook, Ill., ushers in 2014 at the gallery in Loso Hall. An opening reception coincides with La Grande’s Art Walk from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 10.

Page will also give a free, public talk about his work at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 8 in Huber Auditorium in Badgley Hall.

Cory Peeke, Nightingale Gallery director, describes the vibrant colors, reductive imagery and illustrated movements within the “Flow Chart” series as deceptively simple, derivative of early video games, pinball machines, mass transit maps and schematic diagrams.

“The escapist allure of immersive environments drives Page’s work, orienting the viewer in a place of comfort and curiosity,” Peeke explains. “The materials in the installation and the imagery conjured with them are somewhat of a paradoxical anachronism.”

Peeke adds that the creative process is entirely analog and object-based, but the finished work requires a particular knowledge of digital culture on the part of the viewer.

Page received his master of fine arts from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He has been a visiting assistant professor of art at Whitman College since 2009.

See the installation at EOU through Jan. 31. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

For more information visit www.eou.edu/art or “Like” the gallery on Facebook.