Loyola Art Gallery

I have visited Loyola's art gallery a number of times this semester and each time I go there is something new that sticks out to me. Through my semester in my 2D Design course, my perception of art has changed from what it once was. I now look at art with a different mode of understanding because I understand that there is more that goes into a piece of work than what I can see on the canvas. I also have a new found appreciation for the time that it takes to analyze a piece of art. The part that truly amazes me is that for as long as a person may study a piece, their interpretation of it could be completely different from someone else's. I have learned that there is a unique relationship between art and the viewer and that relationship can be shaped by experiences, mood, age, gender, and a large range of other factors.

The last time I went to the Loyola art gallery I remember seeing a piece that I distinctly remember. The piece was a painting, but the artist used a few different mediums to create the piece. I remember seeing paint, yarn, feathers, fluff, and a money-print wallpaper. All of these objects were put together to create an abstract piece. At first glance, it seemed weird to me and I did not have a real appreciation for it. After looking at it for a few minutes and creating a story in my mind to make sense of what I was seeing, it came alive to me. The connotative and ideological came together and the mix of interpretations made for a beautiful story.

The piece used an untraditional canvas, morphing together two different sized rectangles into one space. The painting itself was not very clean. It was very abstract and dark in certain places. I was not sure what to think of the abstract painting on one half of the piece. Moving to the middle of the piece there is a divide between one canvas and the next. Yarn and feathers were filling the middle of the divide. At the top of the piece, there is an abstract piece covering the top of the entire work and it is bordered by money wallpaper. Inside the piece that covers the top is a fluffy material; almost cloud-like. With all this put together, I was able to put together my best interpretation. Basically, I believe that the piece is trying to get across the message that people can come from different sides of the track and still have things in common. There is a soft or gray area in the middle where we can all meet. The one thing that divides us, but also brings us together is money. Money can be the root of evil and the answer to many problems. But the idea of money, the one that sits in the clouds of our brains, is what causes us to stay divided. We believe that an economic divide must equate to a social divide. I think the piece was trying to say that we can find a neutral ground if we expand and/or change our mentalities.

Meraki - Senior Exhibit

I attended this senior exhibit which was meant to showcase a project where students were asked to put together a display. It would be comprised of many smaller pieces to create a larger composition. Some students used very similar images with minor differences to show the connection of the pieces in the composition. Other students used completely different images that shared a certain theme that was representative of the entire composition. The entire exhibit itself had about 6 different artworks displayed and they all told a different story. I knew a few of the artists that worked on these pieces and it was interesting to think that the inspiration for this artwork on the wall comes from the mind and imagination of people I interact with every day. Seeing an artists artwork is like taking a peek into their minds to discover something that may not be externally displayed.

One piece that I thought was interesting was composed by Kamilia. Her piece was titled, "Vixen: Heavenly Bodies Treacherous Minds". From what I understand the purpose of the piece was to combat the sterotype that women are sending a sexual message with the way that they are dressed. The heavenly bodies part of the title referred to the women which Kamilia took pictures of who were dressed in revealing and promiscuous clothing. The treacherous minds refers to the viewers, particularly men, who may be objectifying and sexualizing these women. To make the message more overt, Kamilia used short phrases on top of each image. For example, on one of the images, she had the words, "not for sale". I think the message of her collection was powerful and it was an innovative way to send a message that has been expressed for years by women everywhere.

Another piece that I found particularly interesting was by another student whose name I did not get a chance to record. The purpose of her display was to depict the personalities of her friends with different colors and amounts of chalk that she threw onto them. As she threw the chalk onto them, a camera captured a still image of them getting hit. Each color was supposed to represent a certain personality type. She used white chalk to represent how easily this personality was able to be identified in a specific person from a first interaction. If they had a lot of white chalk in their picture then that means their personality showed from the time they first met people. If there was less white, then it took people a little while to be able to associate this specific person with a certain personality trait. All of the models were photographed on a black background which really made the colors pop and i thought it was interesting to see how it came together as a sort of large collage.