Sophomore graduate student Annellie Mckenzie incorporates gender roles and rules of authorship into the world of conceptual art in an organized collection entitled “A One to Four.”
The exhibit in the Merlino gallery features three abstract mixed media paintings by McKenzie and three other traditional landscape pieces by David De Boer. But who really created these paintings?
“This show contrasts two artists showing authorship in two different ways,” said McKenzie, an MFA Drawing and Painting major. “One is giving credit to the original artist and the other is not.”
McKenzie continued to say that all of the pieces in the gallery were commissioned, meaning that the creator was compensated for the work, somewhat like the “hired help.”
She then plays with the roles of gender to discuss why she chose not to accredit the creator and claim it as her own. De Boer’s pieces display a placard the attributes the piece to a Mr. Chen, while Mckenzie’s pieces have no attribution.
“I commissioned Steve Roden, an accomplished, famous, male artist, and chose to not give him an attribution,” McKenzie said. “David doesn’t name himself in this show. He names Mr. Chen the [original artist].”
The three abstract mixed media pieces hang from the walls in bright, contrasting colors with a lot of texture applied with sparkle and fiber. These pieces are incorporated next to a more traditional, old-fashioned method of painting that showed intricate detail into the guns, coats and dogs within the landscape.
Two very different art forms neither complement each other nor hinder the integrity of any individual painting, but they do look like they belong in two completely different shows.
The idea behind commissioning an accomplished artist to do her paintings was to make it pass for her own work, Mckenzie said. She offered him a lot of extensive and detailed instruction as to how she wanted the paintings, and then leaves it up to the audience to decide the value of the painting.
“In the art world people expect men to create everything themselves and see them as soul art genius,” Mckenzie said. “Women are criticized for doing the same thing.”
She alludes to art history and a piece entitled “The dinner party” by Judy Chicago. The installation took the involvement of numerous volunteers under the supervision of Chicago, and she later was chastised for not naming all of her volunteers.
While contributing to the project, De Boer was told that he should take credit as sole author of the pieces done by Mr. Chen because that would “coincide more with art history,” implying that men are welcome to take full credit for commissioned work while women are not.
McKenzie says the point of a conceptual show is that the aesthetics lose their importance. It’s no longer about how beautiful or unique the painting or drawing is. It’s about the idea and how the art is conveying it.
“I want people to decide for themselves. Do they see a one-person exhibit, a two-person exhibit or a four-person exhibit?” Mckenzie said. “I want people to question themselves about who is allowed to take credit for the work and who should be attributing their work.”
For more on conceptual art and gender roles in art history visit “A one to Four” in the Merlino student art gallery.
The student art galleries are open from noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday. They are located between the FA2 and FA3 buildings.
