Artist Diana Farfán will present her solo exhibition "Bread and Circus" at the Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery from Oct. 23 through Nov. 24. The opening reception will take place on Oct. 23 at 4:30 p.m. at Coastal Carolina University. The exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.

Farfán's surreal ceramic and mixed media figures include a wide array of ceramic toys, marionettes, puppets and dolls. Her work has been shown and awarded on an international scale.

This exhibition, like much of Farfán's work, is inspired by her experiences between Colombia and the United States. Farfán was frustrated as she struggled to find her own political beliefs in an unsatisfying world of mass media. She says, "'Bread and Circus'" embraces some aspects of my search for answers - the relationships of nation and identity; of passion and intimacy; of imagination and conflict; and most importantly of citizenship and consumerism. "Bread and Circus" does not intend to explain these relationships, but instead opens the curtains to these intersecting universes and welcomes your own interpretation."

Farfán, born in Bogotá, Colombia, earned a bachelor's degree at the National University of Colombia and a master's degree in fine arts in ceramics at the University of South Carolina.

The Bryan Art Gallery is in room 129 of the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts at 133 Chanticleer Drive E. on CCU's campus. Hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For more information, contact James Arendt, gallery director, at 843-349-6454 or at jarendt@coastal.edu.