The Todd Madigan Gallery is presenting "The Compression of Time and Space," a show by Mike Heivly, recently retired CSUB art professor emeritus, from Oct. 7 to Nov. 6, 2010. The opening night on Oct. 7 includes a lecture by Heivly at 5 p.m. in the Albertson Room, adjacent to the gallery, and a reception from 6 to 8 p.m.

For the past 35 years, Heivly's "hub" has been the CSUB Art Department. His ideas have been flying in and out of here, at varying speeds around the globe, inspiring, influencing and infecting students, thinkers, and artists alike.

"The Compression of Time and Space" includes drawings and paintings from the late '70s and early '80s. On view are landscape drawings made by interpreting aerial photography accompanied by drawings and paintings made from displaced soil samples that Heivly collected from around the country. In all these works he is dallying with the idea of compressing time and space, both physically and mentally: the act of locating and combining materials from various global locales to create a new singular form, to be contemplated elsewhere.

The following quote from Mike Heivly, which he stated in 1992, lays the foundation for this show and the entire oeuvre of his lifetime search and goals: "I believe that the new mythology in Western society will centralize around mass communications. As people become more comfortable getting into and exploring that space between the real and the imagined they might find a universal form of communication. If human beings could develop the talent to communicate intuitively, I wonder how that would fit into our everyday lives. We may discover that there is a limit to that which we should allow machines to experience for us, and that in many cases it may be easier to rely on ourselves than on machines."

After receiving his M.F.A. from the University of Colorado in 1972, Heivly has participated in numerous lectures, visiting artist residencies, and solo and group exhibitions both in North America and Europe. He recently returned from a residency in Ireland at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, where his quest continued. He now lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The Todd Madigan Gallery is located at the north end of campus, at 9001 Stockdale Highway. Enter on Don Hart Drive West and park in Lots B, C or D. Parking is $2. Gallery hours are 1 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays. The gallery is closed on Sundays, Mondays and Fridays. For more information, call 661-654-2238.