Installation view of the Welcome Back show at
the Mason Gross Galleries

Welcome Back Exhibition

To mark the beginning of the fall 2010 semester, Mason Gross School of the Arts held a special visual arts exhibition at the school’s

Civic Square

location in New Brunswick.  Entitled, Welcome Back, the show consists of works done by faculty, staff, and second year graduate students, in total forty artists showed.  Put together by the second year graduate students, the art was spread throughout five rooms and included such mediums as painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, mixed media, and even poetry.  For me, the works by Bryan Whitney, Patrick Strzelec, Erin Dunn, and Eileen Behnke stood out and made an impression.



(1) Bryan Whitney, Neo Kabbalah, 2010,
Archival pigment print, 44x90 inches



(2) Bryan Whitney, Neo Kabbalah, 2010,
detail

 Professor Bryan Whitney’s piece, Neo Kabbalah, is a 44 x 90 inches archival pigment print (1).  This black and white print depicts a pattern that seems to be symmetrical but when looked at closely the little differences that seem to hide upon first glance, start to become noticeable.  The texture in the work is also an important part.  After looking at the computerized print, I went with the urge to get up close to examine the print (2).  It looks as though little hairs make up the composition even though it is a computerized print and is flat.  Professor Whitney’s Neo Kabbalah plays on the relationship between work and viewer.  Meaning that it gets your attention, you keep on looking, until you can not help yourself but to get closer to get a better look and understanding.  That is why this piece is one of my favorites that were in the show.

(3) Parick Strzelec, Syn, 2010,
Cast aluminum, limestone, stainless steel
4' x 3' x 3'

(4) Partick Strzelec, Syn, 2010,
detail

 Newly appointed sculpture professor, Patrick Strzelec, contributed a sculpture called Syn, which is made up of cast aluminum, limestone, and stainless steel (3).  Syn consists of a smooth and shiny abstract form that rests upon a limestone and stainless steel base. The color of the aluminum is lime green and intense; the piece grabs your attention as soon as you walk into the gallery.  Aside from the color, what drew me to his sculpture was that the form on top seemed to be unbalanced, as if it was about to fall onto the floor (4).   This characteristic does make it seem like a specific moment is being caught in time and you do not know what the outcome will be; is going to fall or will it roll back and stay in place? There is an intense reaction but curiosity follows quickly and you become engaged with the piece.



(5) Erin Dunn, Woops, 2010,
Mixed media

 

(6) Erin Dunn, Woops, 2010,
Mix Media



 Woops by second year graduate student, Erin Dunn is composed of three various sized abstract paintings, one rectangular-shaped painting on top of the off-white, scratched up and dirty base, while another being a square-shaped painting is propped up against the base at the bottom, while the last small and circular-shaped painting is on a different side, also propped up against the bottom of the base.  This arrangement of paintings only gives the installation two views to be looked at.  When I looked upon, what I presume to be the front (5), I wanted to see what the opposite side had to offer.  To my disappointment I found nothing.  When an object is placed on a base, there has to be something different to see at each angle and I did not get that here.  What also caught my eye was the dribble of paint on the floor that was connected to the square-shaped painting.  I presume this single driblet plays into the part of being in that moment of eccentric movement when making a painting and accidentally some getting on the floor.  Even though I was confused about some attributes of the installation, I was very interested in the paintings.  They are abstract, filled with color, and just seem to have been made in a moment where thought did not matter and the painter just wanted to make paintings just for the sake of making marks on the canvas.  If Woops was showcased, without a base, on the wall along with more paint dribbles, I would have felt differently.

(7) Eileen Behnke, ...On the Grass, 2010,
Oil on canvas, 5' x 3'

Eileen Behnke’s five by three feet oil on canvas painting, …On the Grass, is located on the wall in the first room in the gallery.  The composition is made up of figures lying on grass, sleeping, looking at you, or conversing with another figure (7).  Aside from the color being a dominant vocal point, the way the figures are arranged on the canvas is eye catching, since they are arranged in a swirl-like pattern.  You enter the painting at the top, your eyes move down to the girl in the blue tank, then to the faceless figure at the bottom, up to the girl in the dress, and finally to the girl staring at you.  Her gaze is neither distracting nor does it go unnoticed.  You become engaged with her, not just because she is staring at you, but by her posture and the thick brush strokes that compose of her, those around her, and her environment.  This unity makes everything blend together, yet at the same time nothing gets lost.