ARTSpeak / 2014 - 2015
under(my)ning tradition GL ADYS MARCUS LIBR ARY
ARTSpeak / 2014 - 2015
under(my)ning tradition GL ADYS MARCUS LIBR ARY
ACKNOWLEDG MENTS ARTSpeak 2014-2015 is an interdisciplinary program presented by the departments of Fine Arts and History of Art on the theme of Outside Tradition. We thank President Joyce F. Brown and the FIT Diversity Council for their original support, which made ARTSpeak possible.
ARTIST LECTURE, STUDIO VISIT, AND PANEL DISCUSSION PARTICIPANTS
Alessandro Casagli, FITDIL Photographer
This year included Abigail DeVille, Brad Kahlhamer, Emily Cheng, Oliver Herring, Amber Hawk Swanson, and Lauren Luloff.
John Williams, Resource Assistant, Office of the Library Directors
FUNDING This program has been made possible in part through funding by the FIT StudentFaculty Corporation, the School of Art and Design, and the School of Liberal Arts. We thank Joanne Arbuckle, Dean of the School of Art and Design; Scott F. Stoddart, Dean of the School of Liberal Arts (Fall 2014); and Patrick Knisley, Acting Dean of the School of Liberal Arts (Spring 2015), for their generous support and commitment to this program. FIT GLADYS MARCUS LIBRARY AND STAFF Have generously provided exhibition space and assistance in making this exhibition and documentation possible. NJ Wolfe, Professor-Librarian and Director Jennifer Blum, Adjunct Associate Professor-Librarian, Acquisitions & Metadata Services
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Jason Yip, PrintFX Designer
FACULTY Whose students contributed work to this exhibition and catalog include Fine Arts: Susan Daykin, Jean Feinberg; History of Art: Mari Dumett; Photography: Curtis Willocks; Communication Design: C.J. Yeh, Christie Shin. We thank Ron Amato, Chair, Photography, and Suzanne Anoushian, Chair, Communication Design, for supporting their students’ participation. ARTSPEAK 2014-2015 COMMITTEE John Allen, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Fine Arts, Co-Chair Jean Feinberg, Assistant Professor, Fine Arts, Co-Chair Andrew Weinstein, Associate Professor, History of Art, Co-Chair Julia Jacquette, Assistant Professor, Fine Arts
Karen Trivette Cannell, Assistant Professor-Librarian, Head of Special Collections and FIT Archives
Jeffrey Way, Associate Professor, Fine Arts
Jana Duda, Technology Resources Manager
Chad Laird, Adjunct Assistant Professor, History of Art
Hiroko Suda, FITDIL Technologist
Richard Turnbull, Associate Professor, History of Art
Mari Dumett, Adjunct Assistant Professor, History of Art
Stephanie DeManuelle, Chair, Department of Fine Arts David J. Drogin, Chair, Department of History of Art Anna Blume, Associate Chair, Art History and Museum Professions, Department of History of Art PHOTOGRAPHY David Annarumma, Dorian Blake, Blair Connor, Dawn Cruz, Danielle Krulik, Laura Murray, Reid Oshan, Kenyon Parks, Vinny Tulio, documentary and artwork CATALOG TEXT AND EDITING Caitlin Allen, Carine Bertholet, Sarah Dhobhany, Amanda Elsner, Ashley Gallagher, Ritchelle Gilbert, Alicia Jaramillo, Irene Jaramillo, Christina Lorenz, Debra Nguyen, Angela Prevosto, Nadja Radmanovic, Kara Reis, Audrey Teuber, Lindsay Woodruff, Akane Yanagisawa, Mari Dumett, John Allen, Jean Feinberg, Andrew Weinstein, Anna Blume, Elke B. Herold FACULTY ADVISORS Mari Dumett, John Allen, Jean Feinberg, Jeffrey Way DESIGN TEAM Art direction: Christie Shin, C.J. Yeh, Communication Design Advisors Design: Patrick Edoardo Obando Polio, Angel Yiwen Choong, Bea Saludo, Designers PRINTING FIT Print Shop. William Ansong, Operational Services Manager; Carlos Macias, Print Shop Coordinator
© Fashion Institute of Technology, 2015, All Rights Reserved ARTSpeak | 2014/2015 – Pg. 5
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student at work , photo curtesy of photogr aphy students
INTRO DUCTION
Each year since 2010, the faculty of two departments, Fine Arts and History of Art, have collaborated under the aegis of ARTSpeak to bring important themes to the attention of FIT’s student artists and art historians. This year, ARTSpeak has grappled with the knotty matter of tradition. On the one hand, there is the Western art tradition of canvas and oils, clay and bronze, and of all the old assumptions of what an artwork is supposed to be, which haunts every studio; on the other, a wider field of quite different values, techniques and materials from around the globe have become ever more visible and influential in our increasingly wired, interconnected world.
“Their work undermines prevailing traditions even as it adopts the themes and techniques of art from everywhere. ” In the cross-cultural space of the contemporary art studio, how does an artist negotiate a diversity of influences? Do they inspire an artist or overwhelm her? Does an artist respond by creating artworks characterized by clash and contradiction, like a quilt composed of scraps of different fabrics, or does he seek a unifying transcendence in all the parts? How does an artist’s engagement with tradition reveal the ways she sees herself in the larger social and political realms beyond the studio? In the twenty-first century art object, can we detect the emergence of new, global cultural identities? For that matter, is it possible for artists who feel burdened by tradition to ever escape it? under(my)ning tradition, an exhibition of the artwork of Fine Arts students curated by students majoring in Art History and Museum Professions, features provocative and exciting answers to these questions. On exhibit are works by student artists for whom ARTSpeak | 2014/2015 – Pg. 7
the entire world is a great reservoir of ideas from which to draw—or to reject. Their work undermines prevailing traditions even as it adopts the themes, materials and techniques of art from everywhere. The very hybridity of contemporary life in a global society comes to attention. With a diverse group of students confronting traditions in the crucible of New York City, a microcosm of the world, the exhibition offers a particularly rich perspective. To inform and inspire the artistic and curatorial work in under(my) ning tradition, ARTSpeak has sponsored a broad range of activities this year. Two prominent artists, Abigail DeVille (who is an FIT graduate) and Oliver Herring, have come to campus to share their personal reflections on tradition through lectures and visits to classrooms, where they have engaged students in lively debates. On two other occasions, our students have visited the studios of Emily Cheng and Brad Kahlhamer for informal conversations. In April, Kahlhamer and fellow artists Lauren Luloff and Amber Hawk Swanson will join for a public panel discussion to ruminate on the theme of tradition. None of this foment of activity would have been possible without funding from the FIT Student-Faculty Corporation, and without the commitment of the special people who believe in ARTSpeak: Joanne Arbuckle, Dean of the School of Art and Design, Scott Stoddart, former Dean of the School of Liberal Arts, and Patrick Knisley, currently the Acting Dean, all of whom have come through again and again with their generous and enthusiastic support; the Fine Arts and the History of Art faculty who tailored their classroom curriculum so that students could create artworks and curate the exhibition for course credit; students from the departments of Communication Design and of Photography, who brought their prodigious talents to creating the beautiful catalog in your hands; the patient and dedicated staff of the Gladys Marcus Library for offering a venue for the exhibition; and, above all, the student artists and art historians whose passion, creativity and intelligence is here on display. . Andrew Weinstein, PhD Associate Professor, History of Art Fashion Institute of Technology
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art work in process , photo curtesy of photogr aphy students
BEHIND THE SCENES
under(my)ning tradition
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We live in a world in which every aspect of our daily life amounts to a combination of established values and innovative ideas. The 2014-2015 ARTSpeak student exhibition challenges people’s ways of looking, thinking and behaving. under(my)ning tradition reflects the different approaches taken by junior students from the Fine Arts major at the Fashion Institute of Technology to explore and reveal the unfamiliar. From the use of unconventional materials to the study and representation of diverse cultures and beliefs, the artworks exhibited, whether abstract or literal, bring viewers out of their comfort zone. under(my)ning tradition is a project within the Art History and Museum Professions major senior seminar: The Museum Exhibition. This unprecedented opportunity for students to actively take part in the making of an art exhibit includes the writing of the catalog entries as part of a valuable experience: meeting with the artists and most importantly becoming familiar with their work to best describe it. The catalog is made possible thanks to an interdisciplinary collaboration with students from Photography and Communication Design. Because of each artist’s own perception of the central theme Outside Traditions—elaborated by the ARTSpeak faculty—the students from Art History and Museum Professions worked relentlessly and collaboratively to find a title that would best comprise all art pieces without diminishing their individual qualities. On behalf of all of us, we hope under(my)ning tradition expands on the well-known, “under my tradition,” and brings you to further explore YOURS. Carine Bertholet ARTSpeak | 2014/2015 – Pg. 11
STUDIO IN PROCESS
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AMY BORENSTEIN
Olmec 2015 oil on canvas
36″ x 48″
Raised between Israel and New York, Amy Borenstein has never felt affiliated to a specific culture. Her inspiration and approach to art reflect this detachment. She is always exploring different materials, techniques and subject matter, and her works are continuously evolving depending on her aesthetic judgments of the time. She finds stimulation anywhere, does not ascribe to any specific style, and does not consider art to have a fixed meaning or purpose. If there is any constant in Borenstein’s body of work, it is her attention to aesthetics. Currently, her artistic discourse is an expression of her own visual preferences and the desire to create beauty in the world. Paradoxically, in order to approach the concept of working outside her own traditions, Borenstein turned to specific traditional cultures for inspiration. Her work Olmec incorporates formal characteristics of the Olmec heads—the giant sculptures created by the Olmecs, one of the most important Mesoamerican civilizations of the Pre-Columbian period—interpreted through her own aesthetic principles. It is rare to find an element as specific and culturally driven as this in her body of work. Yet, this too is part of her process of continual change and evolution. Irene Jaramillo
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MADELEINE DIETRICH
Untitled 2015 acrylic , graphite , ballpoint pen and wax pencil on paper
This two-piece construction developed from acrylic, graphite, ballpoint pen and wax pencil on paper, serves as a social commentary on the gender binary overtly present within contemporary society. The works are displayed side by side, featuring opposing palettes of blue and pink and covered with phallic forms representative of the classification of gender into two distinct categories that codify and influence our identities, roles, attitudes and behaviors. The works’ transitions between raw and layered replicate the texture of the theme they represent. Dietrich’s artistic investigation of gender is informed by personal experience and thought, and inspired by aesthetic appreciation for the work of Louise Bourgeois, Philip Guston and Cy Twombly. She wants her work to induce recognition and reconsideration of the gender binary and the restrictions it imposes on all individuals. Ashley Gallagher
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C ARLY FITZSIMONS
Nets through time (part of an ongoing series) 2015 oil on denim
11″ x 14″
Carly Fitzsimons combines her love for biology and experimentation to create cross-cultural images of the natural world. Her attempt to bridge science and the visual arts begins with an exploration of Paleolithic and Celtic painting, through which she reclaims her Irish and Greek roots. She merges traditional cultural practices often considered “crafts” or “trades,” such as latch hook rug making and beekeeping, with painting. Even within the tradition of painting, her materials are unconventional. Instead of using canvas in her series Nets through time, she paints Celtic designs on denim. In lieu of plaster or marble for sculpture, she uses wood and netting to recall the experience of fishing. Her experiments with Grecian color schemes remind her viewer of water as a force of nature. Her work, meticulously researched and composed, aims to explore different cultural practices throughout history. Ritchelle Gilbert
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HENDEL FUTERFAS Final Act 2014 resin and charcoal
18″ x 24″
What is tradition? How can one who identifies as traditional become unconventional? For artist Hendel Futerfas, who grew up in an incredibly conventional Jewish household, going outside tradition meant rebelling—something with which he was not accustomed to associating. Final Act looks like a traditional charcoal drawing, yet it was created in an extraordinary way for a specific purpose. It explores the impossibility of capturing a difficult bygone moment. The piece is made of resin and charcoal with powdered fragments representing the fleeting moment of observation in a memory. Futerfas wanted to capture the heaviness that he witnessed during a relative’s funeral. He constructed images to illustrate the weightiness of that specific moment. In trying to recreate a now intangible space and time, Futerfas examines emotion through an intellectual’s eyes. The recollection itself is not as sentimental as grief, but rather it is the analytic study of the emotion. It was an answer to a question that might never be answered. Debra Nguyen
ARTSpeak | 2014/2015 – Pg. 21
oil paint , quartz , emerald , garnet , calcite ,
soladite , pumice stone and glass bean medium
30″ x 48″
MARCI IMBRENDA
Beneath Your Feet 2015
Beneath Your Feet is Marci Imbrenda’s abstract interpretation of a close up view of a healing crystal used in Wicca culture. Wicca is the “religious cult of modern witchcraft.” Imbrenda’s work tries to enlighten viewers to the fact that Wicca culture is misunderstood. Though many believe it is a satanic cult, Wicca concentrates on a harmonious and balanced way of life and creating a connection with everything that exists in this world. This work is an exploration of both culture and media. In addition to paint, Imbrenda uses actual stones and parts of healing crystals, including clear quartz, rose quartz, emerald, garnet, calcite, and soladite. Ignoring gallery convention—“do not touch art”—she invites the audience to feel the painting and the healing power of the crystals and stones. Nadja Radmanovic
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AMANDA IOCO
Untitled oil paint , yarn , oil stick
30″ x 60″
Inspired by family lineage, cherished traditions, childhood memories and miscellaneous happenings, Amanda Ioco creates compositionally unique works that hold sentimental meaning and comfort. Her work relies heavily on personal experiences that both helped her to develop her work and make her the individual she is today. She spent a great deal of her youth performing various styles of dance in her dance studio, and now works to visually transfer her creativity of movement and form to a canvas, making large-scale, textural pieces full of fluid brush strokes and bold hues. As a dancer, she always valued the idea of being free within a space no matter how full it may be and takes this into account in her paintings. She describes her work as being claustrophobic in composition, yet intends for viewers to feel a similar sense of security and comfort through the pictorial space that she does. As a self-taught knitter, she also collages different yarns and self-knitted fabrics into her paintings, giving them a threedimensional quality. These hand-woven additions hold a greater meaning to Ioco as they relate to her grandmother who started a tradition of gifting handmade knitted goods to family and friends. Ioco plans to continue researching her lineage and gather nostalgic objects to preserve memory through her creative works while establishing new traditions of her own. Kara Reis
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GENESIS JEREZ
Untitled I 2015 paint on canvas , wood , lint , fabric and wire
30″ x 75″
Culture sets standards and boundaries that ought to be followed and respected. Growing up in a very conservative Dominican family, Genesis Jerez, in Untitled I, breaks away from her tradition. She confronts sexuality—a subject judged immoral and never spoken of among her relatives—and puts it front and center in her art. Female genitals are no longer obscured by taboo, but explicitly exposed alongside the depiction of her siblings. Her brother and sister are trapped on canvas and more significantly appear to be imprisoned within a wooden frame, no longer able to hide from the unthinkable: an uncovered vagina. The cement pedestal elevates the overall sculpture and forces the viewer to come face to face with an upfront three-dimensional piece. Sexuality is no longer repressed. Jerez’s use of found objects furthermore challenges her culture’s set idea on what is considered beautiful and what is perceived as distasteful. Rope, wire, wood and fabric are materials found in dumpsters, yet these elements are given an alternative purpose in Untitled I. As in Rauschenberg’s experiments with street objects, Jerez manipulates them to abstractly depict the buildings and neighborhoods where she grew up, attempting to recall and disturb the conventional rules and accepted principles of her environment. Ultimately, Untitled I breaks a cultural barrier. Carine Bertholet
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gouache and graphite on paper
11″ x 8″
Alexander Kim experiments with a variety of practices, and often uses repetitions to trace his daily experiences. This work Untitled generates a visual record of people’s actions and communication. The character ‘人’ literally means ‘a person,’ and in the work it represents people anonymously. Depending on the character’s direction, the squares of the grid have different colors. When the character is facing towards the north, the color is red, when it faces towards the south, the color is blue, when it faces towards the west, the color is yellow, and when it faces towards the east, the squares have no color. Some people face in the same direction, while others have interactions with each other. However, we never know exactly what the people are looking at or what they are saying. The series of drawings conveys diverse communities today. Born and raised in Korea, Kim worked under Korean local artists before coming to New York City to pursue his artistic career. The move informs his visions, which continue to change. In this global world, it is hard to define tradition, even for just one person. Kim’s work enables viewers to go back and forth among representations of different cultures because he examines his own standard about crossing eastern and western boundaries.
ALEX ANDER KIM
Untitled 2014
Akane Yanagisawa
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K AITLIN LEUNG
Trash One (Ode to O’Keefe) canvas , acrylic
4′ x 6′
Trash Two (Hint of Flesh) canvas , acrylic
4′ x 6′
Artist Kaitlin Leung specializes in abstract painting, using realistic elements in this series of paintings. Trash One is the first in a series of two works inspired by the idea of using non-traditional materials. It “captures” garbage cans from her school’s sixth floor locker rooms. Leung was initially attracted to a paper portfolio bag thrown in the garbage can. This randomly and anonymously tossed-away-material created a negative shape with unintentional, yet compelling folds. Their dimension and depth was the founding inspiration for the work. Leung begins the process by spreading gesso over the canvas. She then adheres found butcher paper to the surface, emulating the same folds as the paper portfolio bag seen in the garbage. The butcher paper texture is reminiscent of human flesh, and Leung enhances this effect through her addition of color. The material and conceptual transformation results in a work that has a remarkable resemblance to folded skin. Trash Two is the second in her series that is inspired from a photograph of a paper towel in an overflowing garbage can. This second in the series uses the same method as Trash One, affixing the paper, specifically newspaper, to the canvas replicating the same shapes and intricate shadows subtly created through layered strokes of acrylic paint. The words of the newspaper bleed through slightly, adding more texture and dimension to the abstracted work. Caitlin Allen
ARTSpeak | 2014/2015 – Pg. 31
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L AUREN LIBRIZZI
Breaks 2015 oil and synthetic polymer silkscreen on canvas
45″ x 60″
Breaks takes inspiration from Japanese mythology and art. Artist Lauren LiBrizzi uses a process of repetition and layering with oil paints and silkscreen overlays. The oil and diluted acrylic paints work in productive tension, creating a watery atmosphere. The synthetic polymer overlays push and pull in contrast to the background, revealing the process of build-up and creating movement throughout the painting. LiBrizzi takes the theme “outside traditions” very literally as she strays from traditional methods of applying and using materials and seeks inspiration from cultures not her own. Moreover, although nature is a traditional influence on artists, LiBrizzi adopts an abstract expressionist style in order to make the viewer question the image before them. She seeks to explore the relationship between nature and culture, realism and abstraction, and diverse cultural traditions of representing nature in art. “Is there certain imagery in the work that may not be completely intentional but speaks to the viewer?” Alicia Jaramillo
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FERNANDA LOR A
Dolls 2015 Faceless dolls are a unique handicraft and souvenir from the Dominican Republic. There is not a single replica of these dolls because they are all handmade and hand painted; no two dolls are alike. The smoothed surfaces of these unfinished faces are a response to the dilemma of how to represent every individual ethnicity of the diverse Dominican culture in just one face. Fernanda Lora explores this in her painting Dolls. To Lora, this is an important subject because the dolls are a cultural symbol that is not represented in Dominican painting, which is instead dominated by landscapes and portraits. Like many of her works, Dolls tells a story of Lora’s personal experience as a DominicanAmerican. In an unconventional twist on the gallery experience, she asks viewers to touch the painting, for she does not want them to feel restricted from her art. Sarah Dhobhany
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DANIELL A MAGNANI
Happy Birthday (Today You are a Woman) 2014 acrylic on wood palette
35″ x 40″
In Daniella Magnani’s artwork, Happy Birthday (Today You are a Woman), two female figures are displayed nude except for the rabbit head costumes. Inspired by the lively yet eerie characters of Alex Pardee, Magnani’s version of self-portraiture visualizes her inner judgments and outlooks on sexuality and the perception of women as they enter adulthood. Instead of traditional canvas, Magnani paints on a wooden palette. Finding garbage from the street, she turns it into the platform for her expression of emotions and experiences. The unconventional form and roughness of the palette surface suggests her unfinished process of finding her own identity and way of dealing with emotions. This process explores the relationship between virtue and sexuality as conveyed by the figures’ nudity. They wear rabbits’ heads to remain anonymous and suggest innocence, complicating their roles. Rabbits are perceived as fragile and delicate creatures that appear harmless to their environment. Magnani paints the figures with pastels, the customary colors of a birthday party. They represent the perception of change for girls becoming women and celebrating the birth of one’s existence. Happy Birthday (Today You are a Woman) explores the artist’s developing self-awareness and discovery from adolescence into the phases of womanhood. Audrey Teuber
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ARTSpeak | 2014/2015 – Pg. 37
Cardboard Diptych 2014 cardboard , acrylic paint and burlap mesh
71″ x 46 ¾″
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ANNA PE ARSON Garbage 2014 acrylic paint , plastic and wood shavings
40″ x 60″
Anna Pearson, originally from a village deep in upstate New York, has a lot of inspirations for her work. Coming from a rural area with an abundance of nature has shaped her style and interests. Moving to New York City (even though it was a tough decision) was a huge step in her process of becoming an artist and developing her work. Her father is a carpenter by trade and has shown her many techniques and taught her many handy skills. This experience has molded her love for art and especially sculpture. She has worked at Michaels Arts and Crafts for over three years and specializes in custom framing. Having this profession has given Anna a valuable skill and has also given her a great opportunity to deal with and handle all types of artwork. Seeing different artworks made with different materials and mediums has inspired Anna and helps her to construct her work. The first piece is an abstract diptych which is made with cardboard, burlap mesh, and acrylic paint. Cardboard was used as the main support while other pieces of cardboard were assembled on top to enhance the appearance. The second piece used a lot of outside materials to tie into our Outside Traditions theme including wood shavings, acrylic paint, and plastic. The piece depicts the garbage found on the streets of New York City. The transition from living in a village to living in the bustling city has definitely been a culture shock. However, she uses this experience to her advantage to better her skill and make her place in the art world. Anna also pulls inspiration from some of her favorite artists such as Philip Pearlstein, Janet Fish, Yrjo Edelmann, Katharine Morling, and Joseph Cornell. Amanda Elsner ARTSpeak | 2014/2015 – Pg. 39
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COURTNEY PRIESTER
Talons of the Eagle 2015 oil , acrylic and plaster on stretched canvas
52″ x 72″
As a Brooklyn resident, Courtney Priester identifies as American. With this project she gets in touch with her heritage by looking at aspects of African and Native American cultures. She is inspired particularly by their ancient styles and symbols. She also steps outside of her comfort zone of painting abstractly by adding realism to her composition. This large-scale painting features an African woman in the lower center of the composition. The woman wears a headdress, a beaded necklace and her face is adorned with small stones. She is representative of the female strength of the artist as well as the African diaspora, communities descended from the movement of Africans to the United States and other countries. The figure is surrounded by many different ancient symbols. Andinkra symbols originating from West Africa, specifically Ghana and the Ivory Coast, are the most prominent. They represent proverbs, concepts and aphorisms. Symbols for “beauty,” “strength” and “versatility” are repeated throughout the canvas to emphasize these qualities of her African background. Priester is an abstract painter typically inspired by contemporary art, but the experience of looking outside this tradition enabled her to appreciate deeper cultural roots and intersections. Angela Prevosto
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ALISON SCHMADTKE
Untitled wood , plaster , polyurethane and paint
1′ X 7 ¾″
What does “tradition” mean to you? Artist Alison Schmadtke said that when she thinks of “tradition” she “thinks of family heritage and home cooked meals.” This untitled work is inspired by the childhood of the artist. The references to water knobs and fingers recall the water balloon fights she had as a kid, but appears primarily as an abstract scene presented in an unconventional way. Outside tradition means something different to everyone. For Schmadtke, this piece is “outside tradition” due to the unconventional materials and methods. It was created with a mixture of wood, plaster, polyurethane and different paint colors. The wood forms the background, and the polyurethane is used to saturate the colors of the paints more than we usually see. Vincent van Gogh is an important influence on the artist for his application of color. The tactility of the work leads one to want to touch it and interact with the piece. However, the fragility of the plaster bars viewers from this pleasure. In spite of the viewers not being able to touch the work, Schmadtke says, “I hope it reflects happiness and tranquility.” Christina Lorenz
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ARTSpeak | 2014/2015 – Pg. 43
acrylic on canvas
40″ x 60″
A Quechua legend is reduced to its fundamental elements in Michelle Sullivan’s painting Generation 2. Lovers from rival families run away together and are struck by a curse, which turns the woman into Lake San Pablo in Ecuador. Her lover pleads with the gods to let them be together, and is transformed into a tree with roots extending to the lake. For eternity, they will coexist and nourish each other. The legend of Lake San Pablo is carried on through generations by word-of-mouth, just how the artist heard it from her mother. Sullivan chose to pass it along to the viewer visually in her own style. In this abstract work, color symbolism and lines represent the natural world: green and brown to represent the tree, blue to represent Lake San Pablo; and the parallel and perpendicular pattern represents the tree and the water intertwined, though physically transformed and separated. Sullivan’s abstract and minimalist approach to picture-making requires the decoding of story or emotion; it becomes relatable on an emblematic level. She does not paint a naturalistic representation of Lake San Pablo, but instead creates her own simple clean lines infused with meaning from a rich history of tradition. Lindsay Woodruff
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MICHELLE SULLIVAN
Generation 2 2015
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BRETT SUTHERL AND
Kogut 2015 oil paint , elmer ’ s glue , dirt , potato bags , graphite
60″ x 73″
In Kogut, Brett Sutherland mixes Elmer’s glue and dirt to create a large portrait of a rooster. The rooster symbolizes the artist’s relationship with his Polish grandmother, with whom he is very close, and his interest in exploring that side of his culture. Roosters are common in Polish papercutting and represent new beginnings and guardians. Sutherland is very familiar with fabrics and collage, and puts this knowledge to use in an exploration of unconventional materials such as collaging with fabric scraps, old jeans, and family blankets, as well as painting on carpets. Kogut is painted on unstretched canvas. Sutherland also included ripped up onion bags, which he acquired from farms near his home in upstate New York, to create a collage aesthetic. Most of Sutherland’s work focuses on things from his life experience and relationships, conveying a sense of himself to his audience. His versatile painting is a way for him to connect with others and share his culture and beliefs. Nadja Radmanovic
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SAR AH TASCH
Grasping A Fading Identity 2015 self help book pages , oil paint , canvas
Grasping a Fading Identity represents artist Sarah Tasch’s engagement with Celtic Irish culture, and its dissolution and adaptation over time. She references traditional Celtic iconography, including a Celtic knot (a symbol of unity), stones (representing Irish masonry) and the Book of Kells (an Irish illustrated manuscript). These allusions are juxtaposed with pages from a contemporary selfhelp book. The 21st-century pop culture affirmations serve as a substitute for the medieval religious manuscript, avoiding further destruction of the Celtic culture, while making a historical link. These past and present ‘holy’ pages converge to form an image of stonewalls around the Celtic knot, visualizing both sources’ aim to “guide their reader to be a better person” in the service of a greater good. The artwork is built up literally and figuratively with multiple layers that convey a sense of risk, loss and memory. The combination of elements results in a representation of Irish Celtic culture that is threatened by destruction (multiple hands gripping at the knot), but also capable of being recalled and celebrated. Ashley Gallagher
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SAMANTHA TRECO
Junkanoo 2015 acrylic based house paint , gesso and polyurethane on paper
40″ x 72″
Samantha Treco’s latest work Junkanoo celebrates traditional festivities. The inspiration and title come from the carnival experience of her home in New Providence, an island in the Bahamas. The Junkanoo festival brings together individuals from the island for the purpose of reflecting on their historical transition from slavery to independence. Today, the celebration itself is a break from tradition because of the fashion which has changed over time. Instead of marching through the streets in weathered clothing to the tunes of pots and pans, participants now wear feathers, glitter and beads. Treco uses both old and new costumes to describe this aesthetic transition in her art, where an exploration of Bahamian culture only recently developed. Initially, she resisted depicting traditional island imagery, but her move to the United States in 2012 afforded her the opportunity to step outside of her culture and subsequently embrace it with a new perspective. Utilizing photos from friends and family as her source material, painting is now a way for Treco to travel back home. Ritchelle Gilbert
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JEMINA VITA Pg. 52 – ARTSpeak | 2014/2015
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Rain Check 2015 styrofoam , tissue paper , acrylic , urethane
14 ½″ x 48″
Jemina Vita’s work represents the struggle of coming to terms with the illusion of stability in socially constructed systems that are meant to be permanent, but are actually in continuous flux. It may be true that stability does not exist as anything other than an idea, but the illusion of it is socially pervasive and central to cultivating belief in systems such as religion, economics, politics, and family. The artist forges a less taken path towards accepting stability as a construct, and fragility and flux as not only more realistic, but also as more generative ways of understanding the world. This reality materializes through the process of decoupage. In works like Rain Check the artist deconstructs and reconstructs an image with overlapping layers of paint and tissue paper adhered to styrofoam. Material is built up, ruined, rearranged, and constructed again in an exploration of the relationship of transience to permanence and the layers of illusion. She aims to expose the truth that society’s complex systems are established by years’ worth of conditioning through one’s upbringing, institutions, the media, etc.—at times leading to oppressive circumstances. Lindsay Woodruff ARTSpeak | 2014/2015 – Pg. 53
Pg. 54 – ARTSpeak | 2014/2015
DINA VOLPE
Big 2015 charcoal and paint on canvas
72″ x 24″
Many of Dina Volpe’s abstract works are based on the disconnection between sight and our other senses. She tries to express sensations that conjure a memory, time, or place. Volpe’s visual art represents sounds, skin sensations, and smells through line and color that she executes with charcoal and paint. Creating symbols within her work is important in order to provoke the viewer to visualize themselves in another place, specifically the places that her works depict. Big reflects Volpe’s love of experimenting with line quality, a process she describes as “weaving” line and paint together. This piece was created using different layers of paint, starting by painting with her stretched canvas on the floor. Layer after layer of paint, the canvas was stretched again when she was happy with the amount that she had applied. Volpe also experiments with different methods of getting the paint on the canvas. She avoids brushes all together, preferring to use a spray bottle and her hands directly. Her color choices in this painting are based on observations when walking outside at different times of the day. For Volpe, color choice is usually derived from combinations she finds in nature. Sarah Dhobhany
detail
detail ARTSpeak | 2014/2015 – Pg. 55
ANDRE A Z AMBR ANO
Self Portrait in a Place Almost Forgotten 2015 acrylic and oil on canvas
6′ x 4′
Andrea Zambrano’s works are highly autobiographical and always reflect certain aspects of her life. She describes her upbringing as sheltered and her art as a mechanism that brings power to moments when she feels weak. Born in Ecuador, she was raised in Brooklyn, New York, in a family comprised only of women. During her childhood she was neither spoken to in Spanish, nor encouraged to explore her cultural roots. At present, Zambrano is in a very personal process of discovery and exploration, breaking free from stereotypical constraints she carried through her youth as a Latino woman in the United States. Not surprisingly, she finds inspiration in women artists that have struggled with their position in both society and the art world, particularly the Cuban artist Ana Mendieta, a woman of the revolution whose work prompted Zambrano to go back to her own roots. In her painting Self Portrait in a Place Almost Forgotten she begins to look back on Ecuadorian traditions as an outsider of her own cultural heritage, and address them as her own. Furthermore, as she explores themes unique to Ecuadorian folk art, this painting reflects her conflicted position as a woman with ties to both the US and Ecuador. Irene Jaramillo
detail
detail
ARTSpeak | 2014/2015 – Pg. 57
Communication Design Team C.J. Yeh, Angel Yiwen Choong, Christie Shin, Bea Saludo, Patrick Edoardo Obando Polio
Photography Team Curtis Willocks, David Annarumma, Dorian Blake, Blair Connor, Dawn Cruz, Danielle Krulik, Laura Murray, Reid Oshan, Kenyon Parks, Vinny Tulio