I went to the Ruffin Hall Gallery on the University of Virginia campus to see the first of this spring's weekly student shows. Since last year's closing of the Off-Grounds Gallery, I've been looking forward to these shows.
First up are the Aunspaugh Fifth Year Fellows (fifth year students) James Dean Erickson and Patrick Costello. I saw these two exhibit last year as seniors (read my review here). They both were awarded an additional year to hone their skills and their art. Erickson wowed me last year with enormous portraits of some of our down and out citizens, but Costello's prints didn't impress me much at all. So I went on Friday evening expecting more of the same. Surprise!
My first surprise was that both Erickson and Costello are doing basically the same thing. As students, my expectation was to see a change in style, maybe medium, something different over the past twelve months. Isn't that what school is all about: studying, experimenting, testing, finding your way? But, no, they both basically showed the same type of work they did last year.
Erickson is still making massive portraits, using scraps of cardboard as his canvas and a variety of media to get it all out there. He is blending cheap, throw-away materials and presenting it in a street savvy, graffiti style manner. This year, instead of the frontal, headshot portraits, he is doing full body portraits; and of the four exhibited, only two were of homeless men (I have no idea if these two people are actually homeless or not, so bare with me as I use the term generically). The other two were of blue collar workers - one, a janitor, the other, a cafeteria worker. Bridging the grittiness of the homeless to the employed did nothing for Erickson's work. His subjects suddenly are less relevant (my second surprise).
Although the theme of "Teachability" is clear (we all have things we can learn from these people) and successfully accomplished by Erickson, the power of the individual pieces is gone. The passion seems to have disappeared, and the ability to make those who live on the edge of poverty becomes less important.
Erickson's work remains technically superlative, but the comparison to how last year's portraits moved me to this year is a let down.
While studying Patrick Costello's prints and wall paintings, it struck me that Patrick is a mark maker. He makes marks. He makes marks on a lot of things. Last year, Costello's prints were very blah for me. I didn't read much into them. I now see that those failings were mostly due to presentation. This year, Costello has presented his work as an installation: He draws on the wall (should we give credit to Sol LeWitt?), he draws on inverted hung planters, he makes prints (framed in old desk drawers), and, with great success, Costello has made a stop action motion picture. Here is where the growth of Costello's work shines. Although he is still making the same marks, he has presented them in a new and highly successful manner (my third surprise).
Simple lines and concepts can be a real challenge for any artist. Leaving his lines lifeless on the paper was not successful. Animating them tells the story Costello is trying to convey: "people trying to figure out how to live in the world and with the earth in the face of human made environmental destruction."
Extending their respective college education for a year after graduation took Erickson and Costello in two different directions. For Erickson, I believe he would have been better off putting his student career behind him - his art was ready for the real world. Staying within the friendly confines of the university life dampened his strengths. Costello, on the other hand, took full advantage of the extra year and has found a much stronger format for his work.
Recent Comments