Exhibition Title: Mechanical Fortuna
Dates: January 26 – February 27, 2026
Opening Reception: March 12, 2026 5:30-7:30 p.m. Artist Remarks at 6 p.m.
(IRVING, Texas) — The Beatrice M. Haggerty Gallery at The University of Dallas is pleased to present the exhibition: Mechanical Fortuna
Mechanical Fortuna brings together the work of Jason Bly and Suguru Hiraide. Drawing on mid-20th-century visions of the future, Jason Bly revisits forecasts from the 1950s through the 1980s that once promised technological progress, utopian stability, and looming catastrophe. Through layered oil paintings that merge vintage imagery, art historical references, flat patterning, and trompe-l’oeil renderings of everyday objects, he positions viewers within the “future” that was once imagined—now reframed through the lens of hindsight. In parallel, Suguru Hiraide’s sculptures emerge from his lived experience between Japan and the United States. Reinterpreting cultural symbols, social habits, and contemporary conditions, he subtly alters familiar icons and everyday forms to create moments of friction between Eastern and Western conventions, individuality and conformity, nostalgia and aspiration. Inviting both physical and psychological engagement, his works expand perception beyond the purely visual.
Suguru Hiraide is a Japanese-born sculptor who grew up in Okaya City on the shores of Suwa-ko (Lake Suwa) in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. He is a Professor of Art at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. His sculptures integrate tangible and symbolic elements—figures, icons, everyday objects, and cultural references—to explore the intersections of individuality, community, and cross-cultural experience. Through these works, he invites viewers to reflect on unfamiliar cultures as well as subtle and often-overlooked dimensions of their own. Hiraide’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, with solo exhibitions in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and Tokyo. His sculptures have also been featured in group exhibitions at institutions such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, the Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery in Yokohama, the Museum of Neon Art in Los Angeles, and the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts in San Angelo, Texas.
Jason Bly resides in Wichita Falls, TX where he is an Associate Professor of Art at Midwestern State University, teaching painting and drawing courses since 2017. He served as a board member for TASA, the Texas Association of Schools of Art, from 2019 – 2025. Previous experience includes teaching at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Lewis and Clark Community College. Bly is the Director of the Juanita Harvey Gallery at Midwestern State University and has also served as Director of Exhibitions at the Edwardsville Arts Center 2013-2017. His paintings have been shown in solo, invitational, juried shows, and publications. He holds his MFA in painting from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and MA and BA degrees in painting and printmaking at Eastern Illinois University.