The collage exhibition “Marnie Weber, Unreal Paradise: Collage Works from 1992–2022” is now on view in the Michael and Noémi Neidorff Art Gallery in the Dicke-Smith Art Building until March 26. Curated by Daniel Hawkins, an artist, curator and close friend of the artist Marnie Weber, the show kicked off with an opening night on Thursday, Feb. 17 featuring a lecture given by the artist herself. The artist Marnie Weber was brought in by Trinity University faculty member and studio manager Randy Wallace as a visiting artist for the Stieren Arts Enrichment Series.

Weber is a multimedia artist who utilizes music, sculpture, collage, performance, film and installation in her practice. Additionally, much of Weber’s practice is cyclical in nature and involves aspects of narrative storytelling, although not in an entirely didactic manner.

In the exhibition catalog, Wallace wrote, “I was seeking an artist that embodied contradictions: storied but not didactic; independent yet welcoming of collaboration; an artist who engages a practice that evolves but shows continuity; a body of work that explores issues through the application of various speeds, influences and vernaculars; an artist secure with a willingness to be vulnerable. Marnie Weber represents all of these things.”

As the collage works in the show are a compilation of artworks created over the period of 30 years between 1992 and 2022, Weber gave a lecture overviewing her oeuvre. An article by Hawkins in the exhibition catalog outlines the rough chronology of Weber’s art practice: the 1990s encapsulated early landscapes of the unreal; the 2000s shifted to the circus of the afterlife; the 2010s focused on the land of monsters and witches and the return home occurring in the 2020s.

In a digital announcement, the Neidorff Art Gallery said, “This survey exhibition of collage work spans 30 years and features Marnie Weber’s resplendent, uncanny worlds that conflate the imagined and the sentimental. Tenaciously realized, her mixed-media collages are carefully staged and colorized dreamscapes inhabited by a wondrous roster of anthropomorphs and archetypes.”

Additional upcoming events to accompany the exhibition include three in-person film screenings and one virtual film screening. The in-person film screenings will be on Trinity’s campus in the Ruth Taylor Recital Hall in the Dicke-Smith Art Building. These include Weber’s film, “The Day of Forevermore,” screening on March 2 from 6-8 p.m. and on March 26 from 1-3 p.m. and Mike Kelley’s “Day is Done,” screening on March 23 from 6-9 p.m. The online film screening is Weber’s film “The Cabin of Mothra Crone,” which will be available online from March 11-27; if you would like to watch it, email the Neidorff Art Gallery for a link to the viewing portal.

“Unreal Paradise takes us on a journey through absurd landscapes with the allure of desire, magic and loss. The art of collage is a fundamental part of Weber’s studio practice. Known for her carnivalesque stage performances and installations, collage drives her creative exploration both as a unique end and as a catalyst, propelling narratives throughout her wide-reaching practice,” said the Neidorff Art Gallery in a written statement.

If you want to see the show, the Neidorff Art Gallery is open from 1-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and by appointment.