“What Lies Beneath” was a student designed exhibit, which opened in the Boyden Gallery and was put together by a group of art history students. I liked how each of the students put together a group of artworks that spoke to them on a personal level because it gave the exhibit a more intimate theme.
I especially like the diversity of the artwork, as it ranged from sculptural art to prints and paintings, representational and abstract.
I particularly enjoyed the Salvador Dali print that was shown, because he is my favorite painter and I wasn’t expecting to see surrealistic art alongside such representational artwork and even architectural type prints.
The student body was also asked to vote on a work of art that they would like to have explained, which I thought was a nicer element.
- - - - - - -- - -
Mark Iwinksi Lecture
I found Mark Iwinksi’s lecture to be fascinating and made me come to several realizations. He spoke of the language of the trees as a “language forgotten” that we need to learn to speak. He based a lot of his art off of the organic nature of trees and the idea that trees live for a long time and see much of history.
One of the focuses on his lecture was the juxtaposition of what used to be and what now is, He showed old pictures of the giant Redwoods and other trees, which used to exist but have long gone.
He also showed pictures of an old plane, which still exists in the forest, and talked about how this land will never be pristine again once man has touched it.
He spoke of the theme of time and history, and showed some interesting photographs, which consisted of different layers from then and now. I found this narrative to be especially interesting what with the times now and the focus on environmentalism.
- - - - - - - - - - -
I attended both openings of the SMP art show these past two weeks.
The first SMP show focused more on 2-d media, while the second had a much more sculptural element.
In the first show, one particular group of paintings called “Small Odds” was entirely abstract and focused on color. I have never been a huge fan of color artists, but this artist’s work intrigued me. Her use of color was very light and organic and almost reminded me of water and water vapor. Her use of light blues and purple made the paint flow along with canvas like clouds or water.
Another group of works entitled “Weathered” kept a somewhat organic feeling while having a whole different element. This artist focused on the organic decomposition of structures. The way the photographer focused the composition was so that the structures were in tandem with nature, such as being obscured by trees and vines both visually and physically. These photographs gave a creepy tone with the tone of destruction of human made structures.
One work that caught my attention was in the “Thoughts Wandering” collection. These works had a certain flow to them, and were among the larger pieces in the show. They were abstract, yet like “Small Odds” had a very organic element to them. The colors were painted such that they blended in a manner that made them seem smooth and thought like, which I felt added a lot to the pieces.
The other group of art was called “Igniting Love” which was a love story between groups of matches and candles. This grouping stood out to me because these paintings were more representational than the others, but in an almost anthropomorphic way because the artist gave the objects such personalities. The titles in addition were lengthy and descriptive which added to the romance feel. The paintings also held such a strong narrative, beginning with the blossoming of love and ending with an ashed match symbolizing the end of an era. This piece really spoke to me, as it conveyed such a strong message about love and couples through such small everyday objects, The way these were painted gave the paintings a warm feeling, especially the one with the two matches igniting a flame together.
- - - - - - - - - - -
The second SMP exhibit was very different than the first in that it was very sculptural. I found Alpha Omega to be particularly interesting because of the molding of sculptural and 2-D materials to create a narrative about the body.
I found the plaster hand rising from the black feathers on a white background to be fascinating because of the diversity in the mediums used. I also found her use of different sized wood panels to be extremely effective, and especially with the addition for the birds coming off of the canvas onto the wall.
This created a new space for the work and brought the viewer out of the gallery for a moment and allowed us to focus on only her artwork.
|