Familiarity finds itself amongst the art through “Forgotten Faces,” nature and more in this week’s student art galleries.
The Gatov Gallery, the largest of the four student galleries, shares the spotlight with artists Claudia McCain and Maile Iwanaga and their larger-than-life art pieces.
On McCain’s side of the exhibition, her display of several large paintings is entitled “Symbolon.” With the exception of one, patrons can find themselves tilting their heads upward at the art pieces. The paintings are layered with heavy coats of paint that convey a sense of weight and collaboration upon its canvas.
“What I like [are the] little hints of saturated colors,” said Michelle Escobar, senior illustration major. “They just glow behind the neutralized paint. I really appreciate that. It’s kind of bejeweled.”
The pieces are consistent in its aesthetic, such as the organic and geometrical shapes which force the eye to travel around the paintings that are free of specific form, suggesting the viewer come to terms with their own imagination.
On the other end is Iwanaga’s understandably titled “Carnivora Domesticatus.” Traditional artwork comes off the wall and onto the middle floor displaying various ceramic creatures from a large tiger and shark to an imaginative pig with a white horn placed upon its forehead.
The creatures are unrealistic, but not quite stylized. Moreover, certain subtle features of the animals make the viewer wonder why such detail would be added. The tiger in the middle of the room has an open spot on its side that resembles an engine that takes away as the center of attention once located. The one-horned pig is marked into sections on the side of its body with printed labels like ham and bacon. Iwanaga’s gallery feels like a playful atmosphere by taking the threat away with humor.
In a quiet display of nature, the Dutzi Gallery hosts Holy Ly’s artwork with 10 white ceramic objects on the floor. The objects resemble organic woodland and bird-like items as viewers walk through and observe the objects in their own birds-eye view. They are very subtle and lack extreme detail but come as a surprise when viewers find themselves in one corner looking down at a bird that is more familiar in its shape.
Ly explains in her artist description that she explores the “Relationship of line, negative space and the way they flow together with the interlocking web and organic shapes…”
Along the lines of nature, Tessia VanderGroen displays a few pieces of artwork from her compilation of everything she has worked on for the last four years. Entitled “Catalyst,” VanderGroen’s gallery features a little bit of everything like metal-smith, form manipulation and cast objects, referring to nature and her own emotion.
“It’s mostly things that have happened in my life that I’ve touched on in each individual project that I formally brought together [in regards to] what I like,” VanderGroen said.
For the most part, the metal distinct jewelry — such as the spiked bracelet and organic-shaped handle on a spoon — intertwine her expression of comfort within the processes from when she could recall her insecurities in the past in design and come to terms with the present.
The Werby Gallery seems to display an almost stereotypical array of what an art gallery should look like. Without being completely out of the ordinary, a themed portrait display coats the walls in an exhibition entitled “The Forgotten Face” by artist Kevin O’Grady.
Medium to large-scale watercolor paintings hang with visual individuality. Portraits from headshots to full-body art pieces convey different facial expressions and moods.
“Counter to traditional notion of portraiture, however,” O’Grady writes on his artist statement, “my body of work pictures anonymity and ambiguous states of feeling.”
Each painting is titled by a name, title — such as “The Librarian,” or self-portrait; as diverse as each face is either clearly depicted with harsh lines or blurred out. Of course, there would be the exception of the one outline of a head without a face.
The weekly student art galleries run Monday through Thursday from noon to 5 p.m. between the FA2 and FA3 buildings.Artists display various works of art that reflect nature.
