By An oversized Chinese scroll, three life size multi-color boxes and a live art video performance are just three of 15 works presented at the “Roll Call” exhibition this week.
A plethora of sculptures clutter the Gatov student art galleries — no matter where you stand there is artwork in your sight and even a slight hum in your ear from the multiple sound tubes located throughout, playing sounds relevant to different works.
“Roll Call” is a group show consisting of works from 15 Bachelor of Fine Arts, sculpture students. Walking into the gallery, attendees are welcomed by a variety of different styles of sculpture. Some pieces hang from the ceiling, some hang from the wall and some are propped up from the floor.
Although there is no set subject matter for the collective, a common theme of the works in the exhibition is that the artworks are personal experiences the artists have had.
Artists explored a variety of motifs encompassing self-importance such as childhood memories, vulnerability, environmentalism, hyperconsumption, beauty, history, sexuality and culture.
“We don’t really have a theme because we don’t want people to be limited in how they want to show their artwork,” said junior BFA sculpture student Fengwan Qing.
Qing’s piece, “PRECIOUS?” nods to her Chinese culture and challenges the idea of how people in past cultures treated items of value compared to how they treat valuable items today. Her piece consists of a 7-foot scroll with “Do you think this is precious or not?” written in Chinese using black ink and two wooden clothing pins holding valuable coins.
“I feel like it was a very raw experience that every artist had, because their voice is being heard and I think it’s very beautiful to have that,” said Alvaro Alvarez Salazar Fall, senior BFA sculpture student.
Alvarez Salazar Fall’s piece titled, “Live Art to Beethoven Triple Concerto in C Minor for Piano, Chorus,” is a video of the artist physically reacting to classical music while confined in a cellophane cube and surrounded by different colored paints. Over the course of an hour, he performs a (previously filmed) live “performance” at an art gallery. Alvarez Salazar Fall moves erratically along to the flow of the classical music, while painting the surrounding walls with his body.
He said the piece is about the process of creating art. Alvarez Salazar Fall’s work features the words “No Dance or Performance” because he claims that his “performance,” as he refers to it himself, is not choreographed, but in the spirit of the moment therefore it is not a typical performance.
“When you read the titles you get a little sneak peak of their [the artist’s] personality,” said Heidi Fernandez Saavedra, junior BFA sculpture student.
Fernandez Saavedra’s piece titled, “Give Me Life,” is three brightly painted wooden boxes with holes drilled in them with different items contained inside. The tallest teal box has ribbons, the middle purple box has live flowers and the shortest yellow box has light shining inside.
More works on display are titled; “How many times do I need to ask if you’d rather have a trans son or a dead daughter before the answer hurts a little less,” “Remembering how to feed myself 00:12:31” and “No te cortes el pelo que los hombres les gustan el pelo largo.”
“Roll Call” and the three student exhibitions will run until Thursday noon to 5 p.m. with each located between Fine Arts Building 2 and Fine Arts Building 3.
