"Welcome Back" Exhibition

The "Welcome Back" exhibition included works from faculty members, second year MFA students and staff members.  Overall, the show appeared organized and well thought out, which made for an enjoyable experience.  I felt that there was a good diversity of works that caused me to question the direction of my own practice. Unfortunately, while there were a few pieces that really stand out, others felt flat and were uninspiring.

I felt Gary Schneider's portrait, "Young Man," to be one of the strongest of the show. The subject, standing center of the picture plain, confronts the audience with an anxious gaze.  The viewer cannot avoid this nor the unknown skin condition that covers a majority of his body.  Scale also lends itself to the idea of confrontation as it is near life size.  The black and white, nude portrait also evokes a sense of timelessness. It is nostalgic, romantic and almost cryptic.

Although I felt the location at the front left of the red room to be effective, it did not seem to work well crowded next to the two other paintings and photograph.  The integrity of the image may have been better maintained had it been distanced a bit more from the others.

I was also very intrigued by Stefanos Milkidis's video installed in the video gallery.  In my opinion, the content was very distinctive from the rest of the show. Sexual content has universal appeal to viewers but it was the originality of his ideas that kept me sitting down and wanting to watch more.  The audio was heard throughout the room which overshadowed Ardele Lister's video, which was to be listened to with headphones.  This posed an significant issue as both works should receive equal attention.  Jason Shepherd, who was directly involved with curating the exhibit explained that lack of communication and organization was a key factor for this incident.  At the least this is a good example for the thesis students as we prepare to curate our own show.