This is the fourth report from a series regarding the University of Virginia studio art student exhibits at the Off-Grounds Gallery.
Yet another exhibition of the University of Virginia's 4th year (i.e. senior) studio art students' work was up last week. I dropped in on it Friday evening. Again, I got there as the final set-up of tables, drinks and food for the reception was taking place. I muscled through the noise and general chaos and gave a good look at the work of Alyson Seiz, Emily Wade and Calvine Dunnan.
Alyson Seiz - Beauty and the Blonde
Oh, goodness. Where do I start? My mind is flooded with all the ridiculous blonde jokes we have all suffered through over and over. I can't see straight. Maybe reading Ms. Seiz's artist statement will help…
I have a strange relationship with the culture of which I am part. Being a blonde suburbanite was a context I lightheartedly enjoyed growing up, but as I journeyed further into the world of academia, I began to question the culture that shaped who I am. It is a heavily stereotyped group, sometimes desirable but other times scoffed at for being phony, nondescript, material or mainstream. My work reflects my interest in the perception of this group, by itself and by others. Painting has provided a contemplative forum for me to investigate the subtext involved with blondeness and the women who claim to it. I do not praise it, nor do I reduce it. I am not exempt from this group because I am an artist, nor do I want to be. The exploration of this misrepresented margin of people captivates me, as I hope it does my viewers.
Okay. You're blonde. Your hair color shaped who you were as a youngster. You believe blondes are stereotyped. And, through your art you want to break that cycle.
Sorry. Nope. I don't get it.
I read the title of the show, "Beauty and the Blonde", as blondeness being the Beast amongst the Beauty? Made me want to see some real tortured images. Seiz’s statement further labels blondes a "misrepresented margin of people" like they are lepers or something. Wow. Big issues. But, I didn’t see it in the paintings.
What I expected to see is the real person behind the pain of all the blonde jokes and negative stereotypes. These are real people; not the Paris Hiltons we see splashed throughout the headlines. It should be about what it means to be blonde behind closed doors. How one suffers and struggles by being blonde. Instead, through Seiz's work titled "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice", "Bride-To-Be", "The Weigh-In" and "Preference", I saw the struggles that everyone deals with concerning big issues such as self image, entering adulthood, and societal pressures. Everyone deals with this: blonde brunettes, women, men…
Siez states that her paintings provide "a contemplative forum for me to investigate the subtext involved with blondeness and the women who claim to it." Instead, I see a young woman who clings to it.
What I did get from Seiz's paintings was a high degree of skill in her craft. At no time did I ever have to look beyond the technique of her painting style in order to get the message. Seiz takes on and conquers the challenge of rendering mirrored images, severely foreshortened figures and raking light with great aplomb. She has proven her skill as a painter, but now we need to work on the message.
One last issue I have with the presentation of Ms. Seiz's paintings: Included on the one page artist statement was a price list of her work. Not a problem and frequently done. However, at the bottom of her price list she says, "all work half off for friends and family." Say what!?!?! Either Ms. Seiz has a lot of friends and family, or she never intends to sell to any one other than her friends or family. I'm not saying don't give friends and family a discount; rather don't ever spell out that fact on your price list.
Emily Wade - Out of the Indigo: Healing Through Art
Ms. Wade (not a blonde) suffers in a different way than Ms. Seiz. Wade struggles with chronic pain in her hands and arms which has challenged her ability to create. In order to circumvent the pain that wielding a brush causes her, Wade has found the use of watercolors on yupo as a bearable medium to work with. Already attracted to her deep blue loosely handled images, I further cheered her use of yupo. (I have written in the past about one of my favorite artists, Randall Tipton, and his magical watercolors on yupo. Read the article here.) By abandoning a precisely held brush and beng able to push the water based pigments across the plasticized paper, Wade creates very fluid, expressive and beautiful images.
Wade says she uses both indigo and Payne’s grey to "…convey sadness and pain in my own work. By painting with these colors, I discovered that they possess an intense beauty that I cannot move away from." The technique, imagery and use of color have converged for Wade to make a collection of lasting and moving images. All are good choices.
Wade also included a painting of her hands in the exhibit titled "As They Are." This was the one piece that was executed on paper and not yupo. Artists’ rendering of hands is both a rite of passage and very intriguing. Hands are their tools of the trade. Their livelihood. Getting in touch with their own hands through their own imagery is a classic art school project. In "As They Are" Wade confronts her hands... her tools... and the source of her pain. Strangely, she chooses to render them in precise and delicate brushstrokes required by the application of watercolors on paper. I can only imagine the grimaces on her face as she completed this particular painting.
Calvine Dunnan - Postcards, 1947-1963
Dunnan transforms old postcard pictures to lithograph prints. All are landscapes – coastal scenes, rivers, canyons, bridges, etc. In this, he displays an excellent body of prints. Lovely work. However, I think Dunnan misses the mark he sets out to hit. Dunnan’s artist statement refers to the nostalgia of not just the landscape images of the past caught on the decades old postcards, but also the messages found on those cards – memories of long past family vacations. The breakdown of Dunnan's lithographs to three (sometimes four) colors and simplifying the lines and images makes for a lovely design, but striking the nostalgic chord in my mind is only present in the titles listed on the gallery price list.
For young artists, I generally discourage the use of the written word on their art. I prefer the image to tell me what is being said. Let me figure it out through your imagery, design and choice of colors. Here, however, it’s the text found on these 50 and 60 year old postcards that is fascinating… and truly nostalgic. Dunnan’s prints present an excellent situation to add the written snippets of these quaint travel journals. Throw me back to the 50s when exploring the country from the backseat of the family station wagon was the norm.
For the exhibit, Dunnan included a book of the actual postcards from which he drew his inspiration: Pictures on one side and the handwritten message on the back. Finding myself more interested in reading the postcards than looking at the art simply confirmed my thoughts about Dunnan’s body of work. Regardless, I did find Dunnan’s prints to be well executed and very pleasing.
Hi,
I just googled myself and was shocked to find something legitimate, instead of some obscure swim team reference from elementary school. I am so flattered that you took time to come to our exhibit. You ripped me apart, for sure, but I gladly welcome the feedback. It's a lot of what I heard from professors during the school year. Still, I stand by my work: it interests me. It's what I think about. And I think most of the paintings look pretty damn good. It's the art I set out to create, and whether or not that remains my area of interest is yet to be determined. In the meantime, I'm delighted that you came to the show. If there's ever another one in the future, I hope to meet you in person.
Alyson
Posted by: Alyson Seiz | May 24, 2008 at 01:43 AM