Dennis Harper As a recent MFA graduate at the University of Houston, Dennis spent his final year in the program developing two large-scale installations. The first consisted of sculptural, audio, and video components for an exhibition at Houston's Lawndale Art Center titled Ritual Prototypes for the Afterlife. The installation was meant to evoke the interior of a spacious tomb within which monumental archetypal artifacts representing the needs and desires of one traveling to the next realm are prescriptively arranged. The furnishings suggested ritual preparations of an aggressive and indulgent culture anticipating a hereafter purportedly lacking in the activities and amenities it has grown accustomed to in life—sex, entertainment, and high-speed internet. Discrepancies between secular and religious expectations are examined by presenting them in the context of an ancient culture that made little distinction between secular and religious life. Ritual artifacts provided a common point of reference. The second work was his MFA thesis exhibition, titled The Libido Wears a Blue Tuxedo, Some of the strategies, motifs, and processes employed in his graduate work were developed while he was an undergraduate sculpture major at The University of Texas at Austin. Dennis has received numerous grants, fellowships, scholarships, and awards, and has exhibited in Austin, Houston, Dallas, Miami Beach, and New York. Prior to pursuing his BFA, he worked professionally in computer graphics, toy design, and as a syndicated cartoonist.
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