Themes of dyslexia, cultural emptiness and artistic exploration cover the walls of the Hopkins Hall gallery, showcasing the talent at this year’s Department of Art Graduate Student Group Exhibition. The show previewed yesterday with an opening reception for the various student work displayed.
“It’s a good time to hear about the work, hear peoples’ opinions and to get real insight,” said Prudence Gill, gallery curator at Hopkins Hall.
The exhibit features work by students in art and technology, ceramics, glass, photography, printmaking, sculpture, painting and drawing.
Larger-than-life yellow rubber ducks in the image “Hero” hint at the talent showcased in the exhibit.
“I grew up in the circus in Disney World and I wanted to make people happy using an object that embodied that world; glitzy, glamorous, but when you think about it, fake and hollow, with no real meaning,” said Liam O’Brien, featured artist and graduate student in printmaking.
O’Brien deals with issues of national consciousness, ideals of happiness and world paradigms.
“In creating the piece I was thinking about the terrorist attacks, but it’s more of a celebration of American entertainment as a distraction.” O’Brien said. “Profiting off people’s misery and putting a spin on it is the American way. We’re moving away from natural instincts to create our own reality.”
Andy Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup” screen prints and Sigmund Freud are inspirations for O’Brien’s work.
“The Campbell’s screen print was making a comment on society and consumerism because of its cold and distant feeling,” O’Brien said. The cold pictures act as masks.”
Jessica Larva works with social issues of individuals and groups. Her video, “Dyslexia,” shifts text across the screen to show the frustrations of people with the disease.
“I have minor dyslexia, but it runs in my family. I just wanted to express the frustrations of being dyslexic,” Larva said. “I just want them to understand what dyslexic people face daily. People think you’re not intelligent because reading is so difficult. It’s not an IQ thing, but a processing error.”
In a society where reading comprehension measures intelligence, success for the dyslexic may seem difficult. Larva’s video images, however, suggest otherwise.
“I offer some hope showing that some artists affected by dyslexia have succeeded like Leonardo Divinci and William Butler Yeates,” Larva said.
The artistic approach of Steve Seeley with his paintings, “The fundamentals of Tying a Tie” and “$1600 Michael Jordan Rookie Card with Mothra and Baragon,” are both interesting pieces.
“I’m in an emerging genre of art where everything doesn’t have to be so conceptual or serious,” Seeley said. “I like to have fun with what I do because art should be fun. If you take it too seriously you lose the initial reason for making it.”
Inspired by comic books, Seeley incorporates humor within his art. His painting, “The fundamentals … ,” is a naked self-portrait explaining how to tie a tie – without actually having one – to a rabbit-pig who cannot wear a tie.
“My geek culture of comics influenced my work, comics are the number one influence of my art,” Seeley said. “They’re probably why I believe art should be humorous.”
Photography graduate, Nora Herting, takes an inquisitive approach with her work. Two Victorian-style dresses sit peacefully with the dresses and shoes in full view, but with heads masked away from the audience.
“My intent is to raise more questions than answers within a photograph.” Herting said. “Too often people take a photograph at face value.”
