SANTA CLARA, CA.- Two powerful exhibitions at the de Saisset Museum this fall provide artistic perspectives on a wide variety of contemporary topics: war, racism, consumerism, intolerance, and violence. On view from September 27 to December 13, Evri Kwong: Just Pretend Everything is OK and Winter in America: Hank Willis Thomas and Kambui Olujimi feature work by artists committed to exploring societal issues in their art.

In Just Pretend Everything is OK, San Francisco-based painter and printmaker Evri Kwong finds inspiration in current events and tragedies, including September 11 and the brutal murders of gay student Matthew Shepard and African American James Byrd. Using a unique combination of oil paint and Sharpie permanent marker, Kwong lures viewers with bright colors and a style reminiscent of comics only to shock us with the intensity of his message. Kwong says, "I want people to come away with something that gets under their skin -- something that will get them thinking. Things are happening that are unacceptable. The big problem is that they keep on happening." Just Pretend Everything is OK is a mid-career survey of Kwong's art and is accompanied by the artist's first publication. After its premiere at the de Saisset Museum, the exhibition will travel to the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, D.C.

Hank Willis Thomas and Kambui Olujimi's collaborative Winter in America exhibition consists of a stop-motion animation video and still photographs that function together to depict the 2000 robbery and murder of Thomas' cousin Songha Thomas Willis. This tragic event is enacted by G.I. Joe action figures -- toys the artists view as integral in breeding a culture of violence in our children. The de Saisset Museum's presentation of Winter in America represents the first time the video and still photographs have been exhibited together. According to Hank Willis Thomas, both are crucial because, "video carries the viewer through and still images allow the viewer to ponder."

Both exhibitions showcase SCU's commitment to social justice. Says de Saisset Assistant Director Karen Kienzle, the curator of both exhibitions: "In the work of Evri Kwong, Hank Willis Thomas, and Kambui Olujimi, we find artistic expression of a commitment to creating a more humane world, reflecting SCU's mission to providing an educational environment that provides a reflective engagement with society."