Provost's Purchase Award

Image
Shuo Cai's oil on canvas piece entitled Infant

Provost’s Purchase Award

Each year since 1987, the Provost has selected an art piece from final projects by seniors in the Masters of Fine Arts program. The art collection is proudly displayed on the sixth floor of the Kerr Administration Building. The purchase award includes a cash purchase for the artwork.

Click here to see an archive of past Provost's Purchase award winners

 

The 2019 Provost's Purchase Award winner is Shuo Cai for his oil on canvas piece entitled Infant.

Artist's bio:

Shuo Cai was born and raised in Changsha, China. He had never left his hometown until December 2013, when he flew across the Pacific to attend Oregon State University. In his childhood home, there were always four generations living under the same roof. In this family structure, Shuo was raised under traditional, authoritarian Chinese rules.  Shuo found this situation physically and emotionally abusive and unaccepting. The family was never at peace.

From the kind of art work he makes to his sexuality, Shuo was insulted and pushed way in his family and at school. Through his artistic process, and the acceptance of his friends and faculty at O.S.U., Shuo Cai has begun to heal. He had wanted to go somewhere as far as possible; he is glad to be here now. America is a big smelter. It smelts many different colors. Human instincts are respected. Here at O.S.U., his life has been nourished and stretched out.