Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Gallery Review
Rachel Belgard
3-18-08
Aesthetic Scan
Hoover Gallery
I don’t know what it is about a stark white room with hung images adorning its walls. It’s a place without context, separate from what is outside. This is what makes an art gallery different from every other room. The lack of context is also what makes things become art when they enter through these doors. Sitting in the Hoover gallery, the pieces of my peers are staring back at me. It was a year of preparation and a week of hell to finish with the wall ornaments of this show.
It is apparent that the pieces of this show come from all different disciplines and directions, but there is one piece that for some reason catches my attention above the rest. This piece is called Faces done by Senior Melanie Altermose, a Family and Consumer Sciences major. Four brightly contrasting faces hang evenly spaced within a distressed white wooden frame. The words that come to mind when I see this piece are faces, contrast, peace, woman, different, rest, race, and color. What makes this piece strong is the pronounced repetition of the same face in four different lights and the negative shape made by the transparent background. Contrast is another strong point to this piece; every face is the same mask, but a different medium is used to colorize it. The placement of the faces is also complimentary, allowing for the black faces to frame the colored faces.
The lighting in this room also plays a part in the strengths of this piece. The various glazes catch the light differently, allowing for different textures and great depth. This makes the lips look larger on some of the masks. The shadows created on the faces make them look like they are reflecting back into the wall itself, giving the piece more depth than expected. This characteristic is especially striking because usually when one sees a piece in a frame it is flat and this third dimension ads additional interest.
What I’ve found is that no matter what art piece, it can never be “perfect”. It’s all objective, as are art shows. If I found weaknesses in this piece I would say that it lies in the frame. The masks themselves are flashy and fun and the frame blends in with the wall as just an added texture. At the same time I understand it is important to not take away from the women encased in the frame, so it could go both ways.
If I looked beyond the piece to search for meaning I would say that the different women represent different cultures, but the same face represents the fact that they are still all women. This piece looks beyond race and tackles the reality that what we look like is just a mask of what we stand for is within. I think it also adorns the women to make them look beautiful in their own culture and addresses the soft feminine qualities around the world that connect us all (women). I could also see the same face represented in different cultures acting as the spirit of women searching for their own identity, each facing their own challenges and cultures.
My tour of the gallery was worthwhile and peaceful. It seems that even when one enters a gallery they too are taken out of context. This place of reflection allows one to relax and to explore the depths of creativity given to us from our creator above.
3-18-08
Aesthetic Scan
Hoover Gallery
I don’t know what it is about a stark white room with hung images adorning its walls. It’s a place without context, separate from what is outside. This is what makes an art gallery different from every other room. The lack of context is also what makes things become art when they enter through these doors. Sitting in the Hoover gallery, the pieces of my peers are staring back at me. It was a year of preparation and a week of hell to finish with the wall ornaments of this show.
It is apparent that the pieces of this show come from all different disciplines and directions, but there is one piece that for some reason catches my attention above the rest. This piece is called Faces done by Senior Melanie Altermose, a Family and Consumer Sciences major. Four brightly contrasting faces hang evenly spaced within a distressed white wooden frame. The words that come to mind when I see this piece are faces, contrast, peace, woman, different, rest, race, and color. What makes this piece strong is the pronounced repetition of the same face in four different lights and the negative shape made by the transparent background. Contrast is another strong point to this piece; every face is the same mask, but a different medium is used to colorize it. The placement of the faces is also complimentary, allowing for the black faces to frame the colored faces.
The lighting in this room also plays a part in the strengths of this piece. The various glazes catch the light differently, allowing for different textures and great depth. This makes the lips look larger on some of the masks. The shadows created on the faces make them look like they are reflecting back into the wall itself, giving the piece more depth than expected. This characteristic is especially striking because usually when one sees a piece in a frame it is flat and this third dimension ads additional interest.
What I’ve found is that no matter what art piece, it can never be “perfect”. It’s all objective, as are art shows. If I found weaknesses in this piece I would say that it lies in the frame. The masks themselves are flashy and fun and the frame blends in with the wall as just an added texture. At the same time I understand it is important to not take away from the women encased in the frame, so it could go both ways.
If I looked beyond the piece to search for meaning I would say that the different women represent different cultures, but the same face represents the fact that they are still all women. This piece looks beyond race and tackles the reality that what we look like is just a mask of what we stand for is within. I think it also adorns the women to make them look beautiful in their own culture and addresses the soft feminine qualities around the world that connect us all (women). I could also see the same face represented in different cultures acting as the spirit of women searching for their own identity, each facing their own challenges and cultures.
My tour of the gallery was worthwhile and peaceful. It seems that even when one enters a gallery they too are taken out of context. This place of reflection allows one to relax and to explore the depths of creativity given to us from our creator above.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Rocks
So my mother and I spent a week road tripping Nevada, Utah and Arizona putting 2000 miles on a rental... Have to say it was the time of my life. The pictures above may look familiar, they are from Antelope Slot Canyon in Page Arizona.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
