Art Gallery Visit 2

Exhibit:
For my second gallery visit, I went to the Burchfield-Penney. I explored the "Art in Craft Media 2011" exhibit, which appears to be an annual occurrence. The exhibition's theme was the creation of fine art works in media that are typically considered to "craft" media, such as clay, fiber, glass, metal, and paper. Sylvia Rosen's statement about the exhibit stated that there is a trend in current, conceptual art for artists to utilize artisans to actually make the physical object that the artist's idea represents. The artists in this exhibit, however, have all created the artworks with their own hands, which closes the division between the artist and the object.

Gallery/Physical Space:
The lighting in the gallery was quite dim. Most of the ceiling lights were not in use, though there were some skylights. Artworks were typically lit from the high ceilings, so there was almost a sort of spotlight on each work. For this particular exhibit, the walls were white. Other areas of the museum had dark gray walls, which perhaps separates the temporary exhibits from the permanent collection. The gallery has very high ceilings, and many of the walls only reach about halfway up. There are impermanent, movable walls in use, that can be moved to suit the needs of the exhibit. There were many white, rectangular boxes on the gallery floor, with the three dimensional artworks sitting on top and enclosed in glass. These boxes and the walls had a black strip running along the bottom of them, so they almost appeared to be floating. To make good use of the space, these boxes and the artwork that sat directly on the floor were not simply lined up along the wall, but spread throughout the gallery's floor space. There were not grouped into straight lines either, but were arranged so that the viewer is able to meander in between the artworks, not just walk rigidly in rows and columns.

The Artwork:
There didn't seem to be a huge amount of organization by type of medium or theme. It instead seemed to be arranged by what would create a nice balance of material and size. Ceramic, metal, and fiber work were typically fairly intermixed. One exception to this was in one section that was a little closed off from the rest of the exhibit by three walls, that was almost entirely jewelry. I say ALMOST entirely because on top of one of the walls a ceramic figure playfully sat, by Morgan Meheran. 

The major thing the artworks had in common is that they were all created in "craft" materials by the artists' own hands. They were vastly different, however. Some had a specific purpose, such as the jewelry, some were purely decorative, such as the fabric pieces. Some represented real or fantastical figures, while others were completely abstract. Some were silly and whimsical, such as the image above, and others were highly unsettling like Sarah McNutt's Intrusive Investigations of Intimacy:

 Most of the artworks were not framed, and few hung on the walls at all. While there was very little empty floor space, most of the walls were bare, with several yards separating those artworks that were the closest together. As few of the art was two dimensional, there was very little to frame, unless you count the glass boxes that encased much of the smaller art. There were clear labels next to the artworks, that stated the artist, title of the artwork, date, medium, and where the artwork came from (typically it was "courtesy of the artist."). Additionally, any artwork that was made by people who either attended or taught at Buffalo State had an image of an orange tiger on the label. While the hanging artwork was spaced far apart, the floor art often had no more than a couple yards in between each piece, and often much less.

Art Criticism:
The first artwork that drew my attention was at the beginning of the exhibit, Jessie Walp's Spring. While it sat on one of the white boxes, it did not have a glass case that would have distanced it from the viewer. It had a dark brown, roundly ribbed base, and a lighter brown neck that curved up into a series of differently sized spheres. The sculpture uses line to create movement, from the ribs on the base to the curving, serpentine neck that draws the eye from bottom to top. The work is not symmetrical (at least from this vantage point), but feels balanced because there is the heavier, darker form on the left, but more negative space (the areas around the curved neck) on the right. Both organic and inorganic forms are used: the spheres on top are very geometrical, but they when combined together and the rest of the forms in the piece create organic shapes. There is variety in the piece because of the two shades of brown, but the piece is also united by the soft, curving edges that exist in every part of the artwork.

Jesse Walp, Spring, 2011, Sapele and Osage Orange Wood

The artwork reminds me the most of a bird, perhaps a graceful swan. It certainly seems to have the neck of a swan, and the spheres on top seem to form a head and beak that is proudly raised. The bird's body would be the dark brown base, that is also rather reminiscent of a gourd. The one thing that is missing is the wings. This missing element makes one wonder if the artist's intent was to show something that is trapped, like a flightless bird. I have a little bit of a hard time believing this, however, for despite its lack of wings, the creature appears proud and steadfast. The title Spring gives the impression that something is being born or rising up. Perhaps, then, the base can be seen as a kind of shell, from which the creature is emerging and thrusting itself into the world.

Secondly, I was drawn to Scott Losi's A Credit to the Flock, which I just realized is also bird-themed. This was one of the few artworks hanging on the wall, though it is far from a conventional painting. The work has a two dimensional image of a baby bird, created mostly in black and white. Below it is an actual shelf, that seems to have a small, 3-D, ceramic farm scene placed on it, all in white. Below the bird and on the shelf there are a number of different black and white patterns. Value is an important element in this artwork, as it is mostly black and white. The bird has subtle shades of gray, but the patterns are starkly black or white. This makes the baby bird appear delicate, and the patterns to appear more forceful. Real value comes into play by creating the 3D shelf, which makes a shadow fall onto the piece beneath it. There is a rhythm in the repeating black forms that twist about in the bottom half of the piece, that is broken up by the smaller patterns on the shelf. There are organic shapes in the image of the bird, which is contrasted my the geometrical forms of the farm. The horizontal shelf acts as a place for the eye to rest before it is brought up through the throat and beak of the bird, where it waits, for whatever the bird is waiting for.

Scott Losi, A Credit to the Flock, 2011, Earthenware, underglazes, oxides, and paint

 Baby birds are typically seen as helpless and fragile. I think that Losi is using this symbol in order to subvert it. This baby bird appears strong despite its delicateness. Just like the other work, its head is raised and it feels like it is making a fierce cry. I have a hard time figuring out what the house/farm could represent. Is it contrasting human dwellings with the bird's dwelling? Does the shelf represent a nest? Are the patterns an abstract version of the weaving of a nest? Perhaps the artwork is representing the triumph of this little baby bird, which is represented so much larger than the house, who does not need human technology to survive. Maybe it is a testament to the power of nature, and how human civilization is a lot more insignificant than we generally believe it to be.

Finally, I really enjoyed studying Ani Hoover's Astro Dot Net. The wall hanging is created out of many paper circles attached to each other by the zip ties. They are mostly colored in pinks, but there are other colors, such as blues and yellows, incorporated as well, if one looks closely. There seem to be two different rows in the shape of waves, the bottom's crests connected to the top's troughs. The piece is very unified looking, with its (mostly) monochromatic pink coloring and its motif of the circle. Some variety exists by the odd ring that is a different color. The roundness of the individual circles is contrasted by the sharp, wave shape that is created when they are combined. There is no focal point, except perhaps in the negative space that separates the two rows of waves, which breaks up the form into two different pieces.

Ani Hoover, Astro Dot Net, 2011, Paper, paint, zip ties

 As I said above, the artwork reminds me of waves. While it is made up of rings that complete themselves, they are connected into a larger form that feels like it could keep going on either end. It feels like it is perhaps drifting across the wall, like waves on a lake. The "net" is made up of everyday objects, which makes it odd that the piece uses the word "astro" in its title. The word is associated with science and outer space, and yet the piece is created out of materials that could be found in an art classroom. Maybe Hoover is trying to combine the everyday with science in order to create a homey science fiction. She is creating an outer space narrative that is not cold and unfeeling, but comforting. The net is like a blanket, made up of waves that are traveling through space. In all of the perfect circles that remind one of geometry and mathematics, she is creating something reassuring.

I admit that I do not typically look at the architecture and set up of a gallery, with the exception of the Louvre. There, I was much more intrigued by the building itself than the artworks that it held. But even then, I didn't really consider what went into planning how the artworks should be arranged, and how they should be lit. By looking at this exhibit from this new perspective, I was able to better see the exhibit as a whole rather than by its individual pieces. I could appreciate not only the work that the artists put into the exhibition, but also the work that went into displaying each artwork in the best possible way while still connecting it to others. I can now appreciate how deliberate all of the decisions, from minor to major, are. Hopefully, I continue to view galleries from this perspective (as well as other perspectives) when I visit museums in the future.