Claremont MFA Exhibition

Of Looking by Jessamyn Lynn

Along with my fellow classmates, I made a trip to Claremont for an exhibition of the works of MFA students and found an assortment of work—painting, sculpture, video and live art in the form of haircutting—that seem to indicate that the path of contemporary art seems to be moving back to the past in its forms and ideas. I would argue that these artworks signal a return to the work of the abstract expressionists because of the imprint of the artist that is found in the work. It seems that much of the work in painting and sculpture of the 1970s and 1980s was conceived with a specific emphasis on distancing oneself from one’s work so that it stood on its own. Video art is an example where the artist’s hand seems to be more evident because of the actual presence of the artist himself in the work. However, movements such as minimalism—by making the art look almost machine made—stood in direct contrast to abstract expressionism. There was a effort to distance art from this period of celebrity artists such as Pollock who could not be separated from the works that they created. In fact, it was their very personality as brooding, cigarette smoking, blue-jean wearing artists that caused their works to achieve the levels of popularity that they did. The art of the 80s and 90s did exhibit a return towards exhibiting the hand of the artist, acknowledging their role in their own works and returning to familiar forms such as the human body, but—as far as I observed—they don’t have the same emotion visible in the works of these MFA students. They seem to harness the ability to tie their brushwork to their feelings at the time of the creation.

Blue Boy by Justin Bower

One of my favorite paintings in the exhibition was the work Blue Boy by Justin Bower. There seems to be an almost emotional quality in his brushwork. Every stroke is on display and as a result, it seems like we are looking at the very matter that comprises a face—i.e. the muscle tissue. He seems to be dealing with questions of identity in his work. The multiple faces that are to be found in his single face seem to suggest an identity composed of many different facets, yet this work does not get mired in what could be a decidedly more depressing emotional themes. It is difficult to situate oneself in the middle of the work because of the calculated, frenzied quality of the work. There are eyes here and there and suggestions of mouths and noses but there seems to be no anchor outside of the recognizable shape of the face. This work almost seems to revel in its multi-faced existence, which seems to be best conveyed through the bright, vibrant color scheme that is used throughout the work.

Printing Mom by Steve Kim

Mark Rothko, Subway Scene

Steve Kim’s Printing Mom is another work that seems to be influence by the Abstract expressionists, specifically Mark Rothko. In this work, we see some recognizable shapes such as two heads and some arms, but the viewer is left struggling to find some place to situate these figures because of the lack of any discernable place markers. It almost looks like an old computer model that doesn’t have the textures filled in. Of importance in this painting is the coloring. Rather than call attention to the work through the use of intricate and detailed figure work, Kim highlights the importance segments of his painting through the use of color in his painting. There is the placement of a block of red that seems to contrast against everything else in the painting. Red is the dominant shape, so to counter that most aspects of the rest of the painting seem to have some kind of blue/green tint to it that further calls attention to this block red. Rothko’s Subway Scene(1938) is an example of what Kim seems to be doing. There are figures in the painting and there is a scene going on in the painting but—perhaps foreshadowing his later work—the most important section of the painting are the four blue columns and everything seems be subordinate to that despite the fact that the columns are stationary and the rest of the painting’s figures are in motion of some sort.

Ren by Mark H. Wagner

Unfortunately, some of the more interesting pieces will not be featured in this entry because of the problem I had with a lack of charged battery for my camera, but perhaps more interesting than the actual exhibition was the tour we received of the studios on the upper level. It was here that the creative process was on display and it was interesting to see the various creative processes on display because of the variety of approaches to creating art. Also, I have to say that the beer selection was quite exquisite with Fat Tire, Dos Equis and Red Stripe as options. Class like that has to be admired.

Source of Subway Scene: http://getdagoss.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/subway-scene-1938-mark-rothko.jpg