Spring is in the air and that means BFA students at the University of Louisville Hite Art Institute are getting ready to leave four years of rigorous art learning behind, but before they go, their work is being displayed in Schneider Hall for the Spring 2012 BFA Thesis Exhibition until May 13th. Works from various mediums invite you in to take a closer look at the current talent that UofL’s Hite Art Institute is helping to grow into the next generation of artists.
Holly Sullivan, Baby or Skeleton, 2012
Supposedly in 1839, with the invention of the camera, artist Paul Delaroche declared, “painting is dead,” since the daguerreotype proved capable of capturing images with exact realism. Several art students this spring would beg to differ. Kristen Barnett and Meredith C. Fehler capture still life with vibrant color and details, like the reflections from shiny pots, that will make you wonder if your own face will appear before you. Licia Priest paints the human form in all of its inner workings on sheets of glass using a technique where the subject is painted in reverse meaning what would normally be the last brushstroke is actually the starting point and then layers and layers are added on top of each other. Holly Sullivan has to win for creepiest image with her attention grabbing pastel work of a sweet chubby faced baby being embraced by an adult skeleton. The fact that her large works are done on black boards only adds to the feeling of falling into a dark abyss. Rebekah Reed makes beautiful portraits of young women and the insecurities that they deal with internally, which she conveys with the combination of body position and objects that the models hold. Sarah Truman uses perfectly placed color and light to make impressive self-portraits that communicate her personal thought about the idea of pretend. Although different in concept, they remind me a little of Cindy Sherman.
Artist Sarah Truman with Eye of the Beholder
Also of note are the earthworks by Chelsea Neimeier and Taylor Crush who choose the most natural of materials (dirt, grass, sticks) to make “green” art reminding us that original beauty is right outside our window.
Tyler A. Gordon’s glass works are incredibly intriguing and so sexually charged that you can’t ignore them. His “Obey” piece caused a slight intake of breath. A white teardrop of glass drips from the muzzle of a hot pink handgun plaque above a puddle of white glass that faintly reads “OBEY.” The work that sits about waist length off the floor is riddled with sexual meaning and interpretation to say the least. His use of porcelain like glass emphasizes the unique fragility of his subject matter.
Congratulations to all the University of Louisville Spring BFA candidates. Chin up and carry on.
BFA Thesis Exhibition, Schneider Hall Galleries, Hite Art Institute, University of Louisville from April 12th – May 13 2012.
Feature photo: Sarah Truman, Veil, 2012
More pics on artintheblue.com.
