2008 University of Houston School of Art Annual Student Exhibition
December 10, 2008The student show is one of the most anticipated and logistically complicated of Blaffer’s season. This year, the art department decided to show only senior undergraduates and non-graduating MFA students, and perhaps that is why the quality has improved. I love the diversity of works presented. It was fun for me to wander the galleries and find images that grabbed me.
I was very impressed with a lot of the printmaking in this year’s show. My two favorites were Cruz S. Lujan’s “Abergail” and Rachel Kinard’s “Self-Neglect.” Lujan’s straightforward, bright three color scheme of pinks and green first caught my eye and his graphic, feathery line work drew me into the story of this girl in a cave with a really nasty looking worm hanging over her head. The worm’s jagged teeth are dripping with drool meanwhile the girl smiles at us sardonically, which keeps you guessing as to their relationship. It’s a very striking and intriguing image. Kinard’s image is just gross– bloodshot eye, toe fungus, bad teeth, and some sort of crotch crust. But because of the vibrant colors and detailed drawing, I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
Christie Macey also had a very beautiful print in the show that looks Schielesque but simple, almost childlike, with crude smears and scribbles. Yet the emotional effect of the tied-up woman is very exact. I felt very sorry for her somehow. Rocio Carlon’s photos were also very touching. I wanted to know the story of these two women with their hair braided together wearing matching white shirts. In the first photo, they confront the camera very frankly, staring straight out and engaging us. The second picture of just the braids on top of the woman’s head seems somehow sad because the connection via the braid in the first image reads as a very strong bond.
I like art that reaches out and establishes an empathetic connection with me. Especially when I am walking through a crowded group show, the images that grab me really stand out. I also loved Kelly Quarles’s photgraphs of the skeleton bride and groom and feather earing. Both images were accompanied by a journal page that told the story of how these objects were left behind with the protagonist. I didn’t understand why Quarles printed the images large with so much white space around the objects and journal pages. The space diminished the intimacy of the work. But still, the stories of the objects were really touching.
And I was so happy to meet Nicholas Auger in the sculpture studio because he made my favorite piece of Ike art. After the hurricane, he crafted a bicycle from branches like those that had fallen during the storm and hung it on the Montrose bridge over 59. The bike was really well made down to gentle curve of the seat and the individual spokes, a particularly impressive feat since I assume the work was spontaneously created after the storm. Documentation of Auger’s bike is included in the student show.
Often in art there is a fine line between annoying and intriguing, and Vanessa Van Alstyne’s “OMG Bees” is walking that line. The music and flashing images of sexy avatars flirting, making love, and being chased by a swarm of bees are infectious, but what the hell is going on in the video? I can’t say I really understand it nor can I tear my eyes away. With art, sometimes that is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
