MFA SHOW

MFA GALLERY EXHIBITION

Generally speaking I was not too impressed with the MFA show here at Mason Gross. Overall, I think there was a lack of cohesiveness in the gallery space. Most of the time, when you visit a gallery there’s usually a sense of unity between various types of artwork, and I didn’t necessarily get that vibe here. It also didn’t help that some of the work was not labeled. Therefore, it becomes slightly difficult to reference some of the pieces without the actual title or artist name.

There were, however, some pieces that I found interesting; for example the first set of photographs by the entrance. I assume that this was part of a series by the same artist. I was perhaps most intrigued by the first image of a woman who was licking a cherry pie. Conceptually, I think this piece plays with female sexuality – the pie, perhaps representing female genitalia. I immediately associated this photograph with the movie American Pie, except that the roles here were somewhat reversed. The other set of photographs depicted a woman wearing an elaborate necklace made of cigarettes. I’m sure a lot of smokers could identify with this piece, in the sense that the habit can almost become a part of you and at times weigh you down. I also enjoyed Eileen Behnke paintings, particularly because of the vibrant use of colors. I think it’s interesting how she uses patches of color to build up the forms.

Some of the work that I wasn’t too fond of included the more abstract pieces. I just feel that scribbling or splattering paint on a canvas is somewhat overrated. The other piece, which was probably by the same artist, was simply black scribble on a sheet of graph paper. I’m sorry, but I don’t think that work was worthy of gallery space. For a second, I thought that maybe someone had just put it up there as a joke, but apparently it was someone’s “artwork.” The piece by Katherine DeGaetani of the white canvas is something that I remember seeing in Rauschenberg’s work; certainly nothing I haven’t seen before. The photographs in the room adjacent to the main gallery were not really my personal taste or preference. Aesthetically, I’m more drawn to high contrast images, and these photographs were somewhat overexposed, but I’m assuming that was the artist’s intention in order create a mood. I’m sure every artist has some kind of rationale behind his or her work, and not everyone gets it right away. But whether a piece of artwork receives a negative or positive response from the viewer, the important thing is that it does in fact get a response. And perhaps, that in part makes it successful because it becomes something to talk about.