The Spectrum Volume 63 Issue 67

Page 1

Online: Spectrum 360

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950

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In this week’s broadcast, see stories on the announcement of Spring Fest, MFA student Thomas Nguyen and spring football practice.

monday, april 7, 2014

Volume 63 No. 67

[IN PLUSH HE TRUSTS] Nguyen fights for identity through his art by MEGAN WEAL, Asst. Arts Editor

Jordan Oscar, The Spectrum

A Yusong Shi, The Spectrum

Nguyen and Jeffery Sherven, UB’s instructional support technician in print media, wrestle each other with the PLUSH artwork during the WW/PLUSH event on April 3. Sherven has acted as a friend and mentor figure to Nguyen since Nguyen began at UB in 2008.

Yusong Shi, The Spectrum

Nguyen and Sherven use the PLUSH artwork to hit each other during the WW/PLUSH event on April 3. The wrestling match was the final event of the In PLUSH We Trust exhibition. Throughout the event, Nguyen’s PLUSH art pieces were destroye

Chad Cooper, The Spectrum

Tanya Dorph-Mankey, a senior fine arts major, dances with the PLUSH costumes before the PLUSH Purr-Raid on March 24. All of Nguyen’s PLUSH pieces were designed to be worn and played with over the course of the two-week exhibit.

man walks through the gallery’s double doors. His identity is hidden by a white, plastic painting suit and a mask made from bandages. A pink helmet covered in condoms and breath mints rests on his head. He speaks through a noise-distorting megaphone, taunting and teasing his opponent to come into the ring. The audience, lining the edges of the room, looks around in eager anticipation. Long, stretched minutes pass before the man’s pleas are answered and Thomas Nguyen enters the room. Nguyen has a crown on his head and his forearm fastened into a padded, spiked piece of armor. The two opponents scan each other with smiles on their faces. The fighting begins. Stuffed artifacts fly across the room, launched from both challengers’ hands. The next 20 minutes evolve into a blurred flurry. The stuffed pieces begin to deflate as they are thrown forcefully, pushed and pulled. These wrestlers are battling to be crowned the victor. The conclusion nears when Nguyen falls and his body sinks into the once bulbous pieces of art. His opponent stands in front of Nguyen and lifts a soft, spherical ball above his head. He pauses for a moment before spiking the ball and launching himself on top of Nguyen.

BUT THE MATCH ISN’T OVER UNTIL THE BEST TWERKER EMERGES. Both men place their hands on the floor and kick their legs onto a wall. They twerk until they fall. And still no one wins – a victor is never crowned. The wrestling ring was the Visual Studies Lower Gallery in UB’s Center For the Arts (CFA). The weapons were Nguyen’s art: “PLUSH.” And the two opponents were friends and artists Thomas Nguyen and Jeffery Sherven of UB’s Visual Studies department. Thomas Nguyen (his friends call him Tommy) is a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) graduate student and the creator of the art exhibition, In PLUSH We Trust. Over the past two weeks, his artwork and personality invaded the CFA. Each day brought something new and unusual to the forefront for the audience – artistic stagnation was not an option for Nguyen. The exhibition began on March 25 with a PLUSH Purr-Raid – Nguyen, his colleagues and the students he teaches led PLUSH, his pieces of art, around the buildings of North Campus. The parade dipped into the food lines in the Student Union, wove its way into classrooms and disrupted any normality of North Campus. PLUSH was alive. “What is it?” curious onlookers asked. “It’s PLUSH,” Nguyen said. SEE PLUSH, PAGE 4

Jordan Oscar, The Spectrum

Nguyen takes his art through O’Brian Hall during the PLUSH Purr-Raid on March 24. The Puur-Raid aimed to spread the message of PLUSH by disrupting classes and simultaneously making people smile in curiosity. The PurrRaid was well received across North Campus.

Chad Cooper, The Spectrum

Harumo Sato, a junior fine arts major, dances in the PLUSH costumes before the PLUSH Purr-Raid on March 24. The music was made using the PLUSH art pieces and mixed together by Philip Koperski, a senior fine art major.

Jordan Oscar, The Spectrum

Chase Conaster, a senior English and communication design major, disrupts classroom teaching wearing a PLUSH suit that resembles a white bird during the PLUSH Purr-Raid on March 24. The Purr-Raid marked the beginning of Nguyen’s two-week exhibit which ran from March 25 - April 4.


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The Spectrum Volume 63 Issue 67 by The Spectrum Student Periodical - Issuu