a simple show

In the art gallery of a college exhibit the concrete floors mean easy clean up and the white walls suggest spots to display the art in front. The art there on display does not show one particular type of art rather a tiny sampling of different areas of art. Some paintings could go behind a sofa; others are too large and strange to be seen in other place but an art exhibit. Two such pieces correlate since they are both objects of use.

First the object of use is the lute. A common string instrument in the 16^th century played exactly as a guitar. The lute has three basic parts: body, neck and head. The body shape is an egg cut in half from tiny end to round bottom it is made of wood. Moving around the trim of the body its clear the lute has been well taken care of since it is over 400 years old. Nothing to fancy on the backside of the body just maple cut a long time ago. The circle on the front is a tiny craving of vines that twist, swirl, curl, and tangle together. A true artist must have cut that circle since in the middle is a tiny star rest directly in the middle no side is off-skew. Moving up along the strings the neck is made up of spruce. The neck is made up ebony with all the strings hold firm on the neck. All together the lute has warm and dark woods to make it up.

Next is the newspaper. A three foot blob of newspaper cuts. The cuts are two inches long with diamond shape to them. Somehow this object was rolled around in a barrel and tossed onto the cold concrete floor. When examined the cuts are moving in direction of counter-clockwise with the top cuts lying submissive to the looker. Some of the cuts are colored with others just some snip-it of text. Mostly the newspaper wasn’t any special with a few cuts floating around the base and far away.

The barrel of fluffy newspaper is to raise awareness about recycling, plain and simple. The lute has significance as a testimony to Kans Frel, the craftsman. Newspaper hardly ever gets recycled unless thrown away by some who has taken the steps to actually be a good recycler of wasteful materials and recycles the paper. No one would want to throw away or for any matter recycle the lute. As such as an ancient instrument the lute could be worth something. Lutes had special craftsman to build and shape it. A synopsis is pasted on the wall next to the lute that tells of the time, materials, strings, and man who created the particular one on display. The newspaper has no description with only a basic title, “newspaper.”

With looking at both they are night wild and crazy but are fun to stare at. Newspaper cuts are sprinkled about the floor with the lute resting on a stand not ten paces off in the distance. Both can be eye pleasing. The lights are not to dime inside the exhibit. The setup is simple with one wall dividing the square room. Anybody can walk in and see the exhibit in a minute but it can be stared at. The objects are curiously mysterious and some of the paintings are large with warp scenes. I found the exhibit interesting, but the newspaper and lute is what I found to be extremely comparable. The two are trash and treasure. The newspaper will be recycled and the lute stored in a velvet box somewhere. Both are fun to stare at.

All together the exhibit is cool with the learning of some ancient instrument, neat paintings, and random works of art on the floors. Much of the exhibit is easy to take in but rather sudden. I would give the exhibit seven out of ten. The whole thing isn’t too bad and the exhibit is free, but if you take the time to come and stare it can be something to behold.

Woods Hall Exhibit

After visiting an art exhibit put on by “SynArt” in Woods Hall and then speaking with two of the artist featured in the exhibit I am faced with more than the task of critically observing two paintings. It comes to question that art can be overly analyzed. Can an observer read too much into a painting and miss a simpler message that the artist is trying to get across? I will analyze the two paintings with the goal of not over analyzing but to critically judge and attempt to perceive what the artist truly wanted to convey. The two paintings that I choose were ones that quickly caught my eye.

The first was a black and white photo by Johnathan Davis titled “Rufus Davis.” It is a simple portrait taken directly of the front of the subjects face. The subject is an elderly black man wearing a World War II veteran’s cap. The man’s eyes were hypnotizing; they drew your eyes in. They say that “the eyes are the windows to the soul” and this picture seemed to capture that. Staring back into this subjects eyes he seemed as though he was about to cry. I have to think if the man wearing the hat is truly a World War II veteran or if it is simply a cap. Then if the cap is really his I wonder if people treat him differently depending on whether he has it on or not. But no matter whether he is a veteran or not he is elderly and has obviously seen more than his fair share of hard days. Each wrinkle on his face represents an experience and from the number you know he is wise. The picture uses light to reflect against the man’s dark skin making his lines of wisdom even more clear. Though the suit the man is wearing is neatly pressed and perfectly white his unkempt beard and mustache contrast with it.

The next is seemingly placed strategically within the eyeshot of the subject in the black and white photograph. This is a mixed media piece by Lauren Strain called “untitled” it is of a what seems to be a young woman’s face with her hair pulled neatly into a bun on top of her head. This piece is done in mostly red with only spare uses of blacks and yellow. Though the figure is fairly simple and two-dimensional she renders a feeling of grief like one that comes from a woman who has been beaten by her husband. The use of red leads me to believe that the artist wants the viewer to get a feeling of pain from the work. The use of yellow and black seems to show tears. Most of the detail is focused on the eyes making them look sad. It seems that the artist used water to make parts of the paint run further exposing sadness in the woman. The woman is not quite in the center of the painting but rather is set off to the right side. This placement makes her distant to the viewer. The woman seems to be hiding something, which the artist portrays by a solid red circle next to the woman. It seems to black her into that side of the painting.

Though the two works I discussed are done in two different medias with two different subjects there are some comparisons to be made between them. Both artists chose to focus on the face of the figure excluding their bodies from the piece. Both subjects seem to be focused straight ahead as to stare into the viewer and have the viewer stare back. The eyes of both subjects seem to hold sadness behind them. The artists seem to be making a statement about the sadness in the world. The veteran is disappointed in what has come of a nation, which he has fought so hardly to defend. Perhaps when he takes off his cap and clean pressed suit people treat him as another old man and judge him by his shaggy beard rather than the lines of wisdom on his face, treating him as a decrement to society rather than someone who fought to defend all of our freedoms. The woman is forced to wear her hair neatly up and make up to appear as though she is happy and the perfect wife. She is trapped in her own skin unable to tell anyone what really happens to her and how she is really treated. Both artists are making a statement about judging people from what they look like on the outside. Perhaps it is our jobs to look further into them. At first glance both works are simply a persons visage but by focusing on their eyes we seem to be able to learn more about the subject. We can feel closer to them by noticing the sadness in their eyes. While it is impossible to say for sure what each figure is thinking or feeling the sadness in their eyes is impossible to ignore.