Because I'm in the process of curating a traveling exhibition of undergraduate art student work, in the last few months I've seen a lot of student art from schools and universities along the Mid Atlantic... a lot of student artwork.And at the risk of sounding too harsh, I've been unimpressed with most of the artwork I've seen, and its presentation. But within a few minutes of walking into the Moore College of Art & Design’s “Emerging Artists and Designers: Senior Show 2008” I realized that this superb show was going to restore my faith in my long held belief that enjoying and/or acquiring student artwork should always be a part of any art lover or art collector's arsenal.
This annual exhibition features work by students from each of Moore’s various programs—Fine Arts, Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Interior Design, Textile Design, Illustration, Art Education and Art History Majors. And one of the more interesting surprises in this show is how well the "non Fine Arts" majors did in the exhibition.
But first some advice to the Moore show advisers (and at the risk of sounding repetitive): artwork is either for sale with a price or not for sale (NFS); there is no such thing as “POR” or “price on request” or “contact artist,” etc. Whoever advised the students to use this pricing mechanism needs to realize that a gallery is not a restaurant, and that art is not seasonal fish, and that art exhibitions are not menus.
Having said that, this exhibition at Moore is by far the best student art show that this curator has seen in the process of curating a student show. Other than the disconcerting pricing issue, the work on exhibition is of the highest quality and presented in the same manner as a professional gallery or museum would showcase its artists.
The first student to impress me was Krista Rothwell. Her work on exhibit, as well as its subject matter, was as minimalist and bare and clean as a highly stylized realistic painting can be. In "Why Aren't You Sorry," a large 4ft x 5ft canvas, the artist showcases her observational and painting skills with an elegant self-portrait (at least, I assume it's a self-portrait) where the cool colors of the clothing angle for attention with the warmth of her hair. Soon the viewer realizes that this is a painting as much about color as it is about the subject.
Art installations either work or they don't, and art being what it is, what works well for me may not work well for others, and vice versa. Roseanne D’Andrea's large installation in three pieces works well in this case, and uses space and imagery to interact well with the gallery in which it has been placed.
In the installation, three identical arch-like constructed settings seem to discuss the artists' somewhat personal perspectives on the subject of Christian religion, perhaps about its initial Catholic branch.In the first piece, D'Andrea offers a display of free-floating paper masks. Titled "VI. Veronica Wipes The Face of Jesus," it references the Biblical tale of the woman who wiped Christ’s face during one of the stations of the cross. According to Biblical legend, an image of Jesus' face then appeared on her cloth.
The centerpiece, titled "VII. Jesus Falls for the Second Time" is almost a second and independent work of art. Using the cross and lettered nails, the artist spells words on the cross itself and delivers a powerful textual statement. The last arch is the least successful of the three, as I think the artist went a little heavy-handed in her approach to make a point. In "VIII. Jesus Meets the Women" we see half of a heavyset figure, now wearing contemporary Catholic vestments, climbing up a mound of found objects.
Overall D’Andrea’s installation shows an artist ready for the art world and ready to start making a name for herself. Keep an aye on Roseanne D'Andrea.
A less successful installation by Samantha Hill was the more common “seen it before a dozen times” type of familial installations depicting a family room that showcases family history. The concept of the Family Room as installation is always somewhat interesting (and full of meaning to the artist), but this same exact visual offering has been visited and done by so many and so often that it has lost its novelty.
If I'm a tough judge of art installations, I'm even tougher when it comes to artists' videos. A lot of both professional and student art videos are often just bad home movies. More often than not the wall text accompanying the video's concept is more interesting than the video itself.
And so I was very excited to discover a couple of really excellent animation pieces in this show. The first was by Lauren Albert, an illustration major whose art video (because of the major, I suspect) is identified as “animation.” It's a jiggly, interesting and simple video that nonetheless captures attention and interest (a still from the video is to the right). I also really liked Whitney Williams’ “I love you baby” video.
Melanie Bergwall is another rising star in this show. Her digital prints on acetate are sophisticated and elegant, not only thanks to the artist's talent and creativity, but also thanks to the professional presentation and the very contemporary substrate used by Bergwall. In this show, the artist hangs them so that they are suspended in sets of three acetate sheets per print; that is, each work has three transparent layers, which when viewed from the front all gel into a final image. Bergwall’s superb command of her process and her professional presentation make her work one of the stand-outs in the show.
Erika Risko, whose work actually hangs in the hall leading to the main galleries, still managed to make a superb impression despite her location. Risko is a highly talented technical artist, and her command of conte on paper is admirable. But also impressive is her use of color to again deny us the simplicity of just an image. In "Martyrdom," a nude female body is presented in the classical crucifixion pose, but each panel in the four panel piece is an orgy of color and form and becomes an accomplished success for the artist.
source: http://phillyist.comSource URL: http://lifestyleartsblogs.blogspot.com/2008/05/moore-college-senior-art-show.html
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