"Liminal" by Justine Kaszynski

"Untitled"

"Untitled"

 I am familiar with the work of Justine Kaszynski.  Not to say on a personal level, but my thesis show was right before hers and lets just say Transpace Gallery at Illinois State University has a very quick turnover rate for their shows.  So the day after my show I was tearing down as Justine was preparing to set up.  Initially I thought the work to be very compelling, but was still frantically trying to get out of her way so did not get the time in with it that I needed.

So today I decided to go take a look and see how the whole turned out after curation.  It looks phenomenal!  The ambiguous nature of the prints leave a lot of curiosity on my end.  The shots are mostly close ups of different materials although I find myself
                                                                                       moving in for an even closer look.

                   
Justine is using different materials, that have a transparency to them or a reflective nature.  She
them set in an environment that she constructed.  She then projects different colored light onto or around the objects.  I feel this is what makes the work so gripping.  It gives us the fades of color that are naturally occurring within the setting Justine has created.  It has the effect of an abstract painting , but the process she uses is intriguing.  She is taking advantage of the materials as well as the element of color through light.  It is a captivating experience that allows us to wander in and out of.

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Liminal defined is of or relating to to a sensory threshold, or something that is barely perceptible.  I feel that this title compliments this work whether the translation of the definition.  Even though the prints are crisp in the right places as well as muted in others, I still feel like I need to go deeper into them to explore and conquer.  As for relating to a sensory threshold hits my sense of vision with an arsenal of color and composition choices that excite me.  With all of this it creates an atmosphere that I feel a part of, but one that is of the unknown and it leaves me wanting more.

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"Untitled"

Morgan Price

There is a romantic notion between artists and their work.  No matter how many times things don't turn out in the studio, there is still hope to get a physical thing by the end of the day.  This is crucial to being fueled as a maker.  You also have to have fun.  Sometimes we are consumed with overbearing stress from the world around us and its nice to be able to have fun (or add to the stresses) of our own creation.  Either way we are growing.  Although being in our little bubble is fun, we also need to communicate to the outside world through the work.  This adds to the feeling of doing something mindful and worthwhile.

Morgan Price
University Galleries
Research Colloquium Lecture

Morgan Price is the Assistant Professor of Art at Illinois State University where he teaches Lithography.   He recently was a part of University Galleries' Research Colloquium Lecture Series.  In the paragraph above are some things that Morgan was talking about in the beginning of his lecture.  He started the conversation off with, "Why do I make the art that I make?"  Having fun was the first one.  Doing something worthwhile followed and ended with communication (effectively).

Morgan wants his work to reside in a rundown greaser apartment that is too cluttered to clean and the people inhabiting this space don't care enough to clean it.  He is very comedic with the sincerity of his work.  You can see the relationship between Morgan and his work.  It is romantic.  In a Beetlejuice kind of way.

Morgan Price
'I Don't Give a Crap'
2013

Two things that that Morgan gets excited about are tools and processes.  These are some of the reasons why I am a ceramicist.  The repetitive nature can seem like a nightmare, but its actually ritual. Collecting tools is fun too.  Also the joy of discovering is also something that Morgan holds dear. Even the smallest discovery can lead to other things or ideas.  Morgan is an advocate of learning, growing, and collaboration.  Humor is a big part of Morgan's work too.  As you can see from the image to the left he has no problem letting it all out. He finds the structure of our society to be funny.  Mainly how context dictates the significance or severity of something.  For example high impact sports (boxing, mama).  In these sports people are glorified for violence, while if that happened in another scenario it would be seen as bad.  Morgan believes it is important to make fun and laugh, to an extent.

Why make work like this though?  Well it's a preference for Morgan.  There are some things that he can not explain.    Like why he likes lumpy stuff and strange faces.  It is something that had always peaked his interest.  

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Seeing Morgan talk was phenomenal and a breath of fresh air.  To see someone that is so passionate and invested in their work is something special.  Also the sincerity and humor of his work are something amazing as well.  During his lecture he talked about a lot of the romantic things that go on in an artist's life in the studio.  Some things that get passed by easily.  Im glad he refreshed my memory .

Jason Walker

Jason Walker introduces himself to University Galleries

  When it comes to clay, there are only a few things that really catch me upside the head and have me flabbergasted.  One artist that continues to do this is an artist by the name of Jason Walker.  Jason started off painting business signs in his home state of Idaho and this transferred to his clay when he started work in that medium.  His virtuoso paintings on his mechanized forms are some that make me green with envy, but it is something that inspires me as well.  Sometimes you come across an artist who is fully immersed in the technical aspects of their work.  This is Jason Walker.  Not to say that that is the only aspect that comes forward in his work because it surely is not.  It was not until graduate school that Jason really started experimenting with his painting techniques and forms.

Illustrated bowl.
Photo Credit: Jason Walker 

In undergrad it was mostly design for Jason, but graduate school is when his painterly skills started to blossom into something great.  Like most artists Jason was consumed by the academic schedule. Jason picked up a position at a community college after grad school and had enough at that point.  He decided to become a studio artist and rely on that for a while.  From that point Jason attended many artist residencies anywhere from Hawaii to China (the long way).  His work has transformed from objects of utility to compelling sculptural phenomena.

"Split down the middle, but one always wants more"
 Photo Credit: Jason Walker

  Jason uses animals to convey certain conceptual messages in his work.  He uses birds because of the connection of flight.  Birds are able to "fly to the heavens".  In a world where we look up to the sky for answers for the realm we have created.  Above is an image of two birds on opposite sides of the nest.  In the nest there is a divide that is created.  One side is a city scene, the other is open land.  This show the tension that both create with each other and how each takes from the other, sometimes not for the better of the other.  Another animal is the fish.  In Asia the fish is a sign of wealth.  It is a food source and if you are lucky enough to be near the source you can flourish. He makes these forms mechanical.  A cultural critique if you will.  A self reflection of his own perceptions to show that technology is friend, but it is also foe.

"Whirling Disease"
Photo Credit: Jason Walker

"Stopping to sniff the flowers in my concrete shoes, I gave a crust of bread to John Muir"
Photo Credit: Jason Walker

Another source from the animal kingdom is the bear.  He states that when you see a bear it is most likely not where the masses inhabit.  In the image of the bear above, Jason incorporates the writer John Muir.   Jason walker quoted John Muir in his lecture, the abstract is this, "Humans need wilderness to escape the mechanisms of life." He  also incorporates Deer because of their resilience to adapt and move to all different areas and coexist with humans.  In the photo below it show a deer in a city.  Although the buildings are blades of grass below it's feet and he also incorporates other aspects of urban life such as cars, hazard signs and a lightbulb.
  

"Redtail"
Photo Credit: Jason Walker

Jason speaks to us about the divide that we have created between ourselves and nature.  He wants us to question it.  Why do we have to drive an hour to go "see" nature?  Is there not nature all around us? Or has technology made it impossible for us to see?  Well I'll have to say it is relative to the viewer.  I do believe there is a constant struggle between nature and culture.  Jason's work shows that they can coexist, if we are more conscious and allow them to.  At least in our own minds. That is a start in the right direction.

A Beach (For Carl Sagan)

Photo Credit: Peter McCullough

A Beach (For Carl Sagan) by: Andrew S. Young (Middle view)

A Beach (For Carl Sagan) by: Andrew S. Young (entrance view)

I made a trip to Chicago to see my brother.  Somehow he has a schedule busier than mine and so we had to plan this hang session about a month in advance.  After the date had been decided I figured one of our stops could be to the Museum of Contemporary Art because I was very young when i had my last visit.  My brother has a very small background in art, so I did not know what his reaction might be when i sprung it on him.  Luckily my brother has a imperturbable tranquility to him so he did not mind.  We walked around to browsing for a while in the beautiful specimen of architecture that is known as The Museum of Contemporary Art.  Although there was one section that held most of our intrigue.  

It was a small nook at the top of the stairs that consumed us by its atmosphere.  It contained seven tons of sand, radios, an LED light box, and single-channel video (sound).  The installation was a model to scale of the galaxy.  Each grain of sand was representative of a star.  The LED light box contains 1,500 grains of sand and  represents the milky way galaxy.   So in comparison it is trying to show the mass outside of us that we can not comprehend.  Although this helped us with that.   According to Andrew S. Young "This exhibition is a meditation on our galaxy."  Whilst inside of this fabrication, the mounds of sand look as if they were extracted from a desolate planet.  Also while you are inside of the space low frequency radios project static from the ceiling creating a wave like feel, thus creating the feel of an inter terrestrial beach.

A Beach (For Carl Sagan)
by: Andrew S. Young (Far corner view)

What's (The) Matter by: Andrew S. Yang

Included in this exhibition was a table of objects that look like they may be of this space that we encountered.  Upon closer inspection we found them to be varying from things that were objects of our natural world to objects that were fabricated to look like things we may recognize from our world.  This was a clever play on looking at the constructs that we create.  And how we make associations to this, according to the structures that have been placed before us.  Especially when the object is not made up of any of the materials that we assume it to be. In this Yang deteriorates the the strictures of nature and culture.

What's (The) Matter by: Andrew S. Yang

This exhibition was a humbling experience.  Im even happier that my brother and I both walked away with the same conditions that resonated.  It really puts your place in the world into perspective in multiple ways.  Whether it's just in our little bubble that we perceive to be all encompassing or the unknown that we tend to disregard.   

A Beach (For Carl Sagan)

Photo Credit: Peter McCullough

I made a trip to Chicago to see my brother.  Somehow he has a schedule busier than mine and so we had to plan this hang session about a month in advance.  After the date had been decided I figured one of our stops could be to the Museum of Contemporary Art because I was very young when i had my last visit.  My brother has a very small background in art, so I did not know what his reaction might be when i sprung it on him.  Luckily my brother has a imperturbable tranquility to him so he did not mind.  We walked around to browsing for a while in the beautiful specimen of architecture that is known as The Museum of Contemporary Art.  Although there was one section that held most of our intrigue.  

A Beach (For Carl Sagan) by: Andrew S. Young (Far corner  view)

It was a small nook at the top of the stairs that consumed us by its atmosphere.  It contained seven tons of sand, radios, an LED light box, and single-channel video (sound).  The installation was a model to scale of the galaxy.  Each grain of sand was representative of a star.  The LED light box contains 1,500 grains of sand and  represents the milky way galaxy.   So in comparison it is trying to show the mass outside of us that we can not comprehend.  Although this helped us with that.   According to Andrew S. Young "This exhibition is a meditation on our galaxy"  

A Beach (For Carl Sagan) by: Andrew S. Young (Middle view)

Whilst inside of this fabrication the mounds of sand look as if they were extracted from a desolate planet.  Also while you are inside of the space low frequency radios project static from the ceiling creating a wave like feel, thus creating the feel of an inter terrestrial beach.  Included in this exhibition was a table of objects that look like they may be of this space that we encountered.  Upon closer inspection we found them to be varying from things that were objects of our natural world to objects that were fabricated to look like things we may recognize from our world.  This was a clever play on looking at the constructs that we create.  And how we make associations to this, according to the structures that have been placed before us.  Especially when the object is not made up of any of the materials that we assume it to be.

  

Placelessness

Placelessness is a very interesting installation that is currently set up at University Galleries in Normal, Illinois.  This installation is far from normal, but at the same time resonates with the viewer to recall past experiences of home, friends, and family.  The artist behind this installation is Sarah Rothberg.  She has created two environments.  One of the physical that can be seen from just walking in the room, and one of psychological.  The nook in University Galleries houses a vibrant red shag carpet, a chair, virtual reality headset, headphones, and computer.  The room screams an environment that Austin Powers might inhabit, or maybe a scene from Pink Floyd's: The Wall.  

Sarah Rothberg, Memory/Place: My House, 2014-2015. Virtual reality enviroment, Oculus Rift headset, swivel chair, CRT television monitor, carpet. Courtesy of the artist. Taken from University Galleries web page.  

While the room disorients it still offers a sense of comfort, primarily with the chair. It has the feel of something that my Grandfather used to reside in during our visits.  Broken in, but not broken.  The computer is also nostalgic, but maybe thats because of my age and how we used to have them in our computer labs in elementary school.  Upon entering the virtual reality aspect of this installation you are confronted with lucidity as well as disorientation.  The environment is something new in itself, but there is a familiarity to the imagery provided.  Especially while inside of the house.  It has a feel of family and friends that can be related to.  Also the fact that you navigate where you go inside of the headset is intriguing too because you are exploring this place in a standstill.  It consumes you and I feel that is what adds to the disorient.  While i was "under" you could look all over the landscape and it went on for what seemed forever while in reality I was in this confined space. It was compelling to explore my perceptions while going in and out of what was made to be our reality.

The Quickening

The Quickening 15
Serigraphy, woodcut, mixed media

I visited the Mclean County Art Center to view Lisa Lofgren's exhibition called 'The Quickening".  They are primarily prints with some mixed media.  The collective is centered around child bearing.  This idea of fostering life is translated into these images in a compelling way that has an uncertainty to them.  These were all collaborative works with students at Middle Tennessee University.  Incorporating fountains, pedestals, flower pots, and livestock are topics involved in various prints while other remain more ambiguous.  In the backgrounds there is branching or extensions of line that speak to expansion.  Expansion to the self, family, and maybe more literally the baby bump. The colors work together very well and have good contrast. This creates a sense of depth that brings the viewer in for further investigation.

The Quickening 3
Serigraphy, woodcut, monotype, mixed media

 Much of this flows together, but there are some aspects that are questionable in related content.  I do not understand the incorporation of Japanese style and imagery.  She states it is because she is learning Japanese, but i do not see the relation to child birth.  Besides the very distinct imagery it is hard to relate some of these things to Lisa's content.  This could be because it was created in the form of collaboration, but it just seems like these different forms of imagery were slapped together and given a main theme.  There are obviously connections, but i feel this exhibition could have been more true to this and maybe in turn could have been more successful.   This is said to play to physical and emotional aspects of bearing a child.  Although i do not know the feats of bearing a child my guess is that most of the students that collaborated with this do not either.  I could be wrong, but it is hard to say that these are genuine psychological and physical interpretations to bearing a child.  I do think that the majority of these works do work very well together compositionally, but i do think some are a bit of a stretch to the supposed content.

The Quickening 9
Serigraphy, monotype, mixed media

The Quickening 11
Serigraphy, stamping, mixed media

The Quickening 12
Serigraphy, mixed media