Arts – Page 161 – [art]seen

REVIEW: Logic: Who Can Relate?

April 2, 2018April 2, 2018 ajayw Leave a comment

The Who Can Relate? event was one of the best events I’ve seen in my time on campus. If not for the technical difficulties, it would have been near perfect. The event started off strong with a pre recorded message about mental health by former POTUS Bill Clinton. After the powerful message by former president Clinton, the men’s glee club took the stage. They sang an incredible rendition of “Glory” by Common and John Legend featuring some incredible vocalists on the lead parts. I recognized one of the vocalists as one of the students who did an outstanding job singing in Porgy and Bess. After the last member of the glee club exited the stage, we welcomed actor Glenn Close, founder of the BringChange2Mind charity. Glenn shared a heartwarming story about her sister who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She is the inspiration behind Glenn starting her charity. Everything seemed to be going smoothly as Glenn planned to show a video, but then the screen unfortunately fell victim to technical difficulties. In an attempt to buy some time for her video, Glenn sang a song, but it would end up taking them the better part of the mental health half of the event for them to fix the screen. Even though, the video was never shown, the event was so moving it might not have even needed it. Kevin Hines was next up to speak. He knew that most people in the auditorium did not know who he was going into the event and used that knowledge to his advantage with his presentation. Before introducing himself he gave an impassioned speech about the importance of life and then shared his story with us. He is one of less than 40 people to have survived jumping off of the Golden Gate Bridge out of over 2000. It is one of the “most exclusive clubs” one can be in, as he put it. Even more amazing, is that fact that he regained full mobility in his body and suffered no major injuries from the suicide attempt. Upon sharing this knowledge, the entire auditorium fell absolutely silent. After having us repeat “I want to be alive” three times, each with greater intensity, Mr. Hines left the stage to raucous applause. Hakeem Rahim, the founder of I Am Acceptance, gave a series of spoken word pieces that were fantastic. He was followed by Brandon Marshall and his wife Michi to end the purely mental health portion of the event. Brandon personally has borderline personality disorder and talked about the importance of asking for help. I have personally already seen his “A Football Life” documentary where he discusses his struggles with BPD, so it was amazing to see him in real life. After all of the empowering speeches about mental health, it was time for Logic to close the night. There was a short delay where they eventually ended up fixing the screen. Logic’s DJ came out and warmed up the crowd with 30 snippets of songs that were surprisingly well connected. Finally, it was time for the real deal, Logic himself. He came out with a Maize and Blue shirt on, ready to take over the show. He informed the crowd that this would be his first time performing songs from his new album, Bobby Tarantino II, so, naturally, we went wild. After a great set of mostly new songs mixed with some funny audience interaction and Logic’s spiel about not using our phones, we had reached the song that really embodied the night, “1-800-273-8255”. The title of Logic’s hit is the number for the suicide hotline, and he had been saving it to close his formal set for this event so that he could remind us of what we were all really there for, a gathering in support of mental health. After an amazing performance of that song, Logic decided to play his other hit, “Everybody”, as an encore. The performance he gave was fantastic and the night overall was really moving. This event was one of the best I’ve seen on campus, and I highly recommend going to anything similar in the future.

REVIEW: A Fantastic Woman

April 1, 2018April 1, 2018 Corrina Lee Leave a comment

The outside world is always prying, straining its beady eyes to get a peek at our inner lives. It wants a public sacrifice of our most intimate secrets. It is never satisfied. Every morsel feeds an all-devouring hunger until there is nothing left unshared. In the film, A Fantastic Woman, Marina (Daniela Vega) feels this pressure more overtly than most. She is constantly subjected to questioning by people looking, searching for some undefinable thing that makes her wrong. But there is nothing to find. Marina is just another Chilean woman, working as a waitress by day and a singer by night. Yet, despite her best efforts, people refuse to accept her as she is because of her identity as a transgender woman. When her partner, Orlando (Francisco Reyes), dies suddenly, the gnawing everyday curiosity of others is given justification, a right to pry. Even as Marina grieves over the death of a loved one, she must endure constant questioning of the very nature of that love.

It is excruciating, to be pricked and prodded in the places where you have made yourself vulnerable. The film’s greatest success is translating this pain without ever becoming maudlin. Vega’s performance radiates the strength of a woman who has become accustomed to a world that is always seeking more information instead of understanding. She has adapted, but the sting is still there on her face, behind her eyes. Much of the film focuses on Vega’s face as she encounters various ignorant or openly antagonistic force. Each time, it becomes something newly expressive. During one conversation with Orlando’s ex-wife, Vega is outraged, grieving, smoothly impassive. She knows what the world needs to see. But in her moments alone, she is truly herself, even if only her dog is there to witness it.

Image result for a fantastic woman

The film may focus entirely on Marina’s day-to-day life, but by interweaving a melancholy surrealism, it also provides a welcome variation on the typical, staid drama. In these moments, the film becomes beautiful and mysterious. It does not bother to explain away any of these enigmas. Instead, they act as the visible expressions of emotion that Marina must bottle up in front of others. Director Sebastián Lelio gives the audience both the privilege and burden of watching Marina closely. Even in her most uncomfortable moments, the camera is aimed unswervingly at her. But there are scenes where the film floats above the daily humiliations that Marina must endure. Scenes where it becomes swirling color and ecstatic dance sequences. Scenes of humanity even when one has been declared a monster.

A Fantastic Woman is an expertly made, character-driven film. With its single-minded focus, it could easily become monotone. But the inclusion of Vega allows the film to craft a fascinating story without a sensationalist plot. By the end, the constant yearning to know more has been eliminated, not through nosiness, but compassion. We know exactly who Marina is. And she is fantastic.

REVIEW: EMBODY 2018 MFA Thesis Exhibition.

March 31, 2018March 31, 2018 niezi Leave a comment

During a gallery visit on a cool Friday, the exhibit was quiet, uninterrupted as a projected screen on the wall played the construction and deconstruction of bread against fragile grid paper. As a common theme, EMBODY is a refinement of material in each of the exhibiting works, a process of transformation that embodies a larger significance.

From the opening entrance into Stephanie Brown’s Am I Enough, the power of material is palpable. There’s a tactile installation in a palette of skin tones, like suits someone could wear on and off in a closet. Following this idea and framed by the poem typed on the wall, is a shirt display with no bleach symbols and an exhibition of different people of colour dressed in them. The meaning is clear: no whitewashing; please wash gently with unlike colours.

The idea of an identity is juxtaposed with clothes and fabrics, the same way we wear biases. But colourism, racism, and the weight of an identity – these are things that are less easily taken off than the way someone might take off a coat.

To a more abstract kind of expressionism with material, How to draw a line by the clenching of a fist by Brynn Higgins-Stirrup explores both the geometric and fluid, with images and sculptures that are inherently tactile, a history of molding folded into their form. It is work that is engaging and dynamic to look at, something that captures attention into the process like a manual of how to create.

There are some interesting, beautiful and abstract shapes, touchable and twisted, such as the grid upon paper like a map, a pathway of how things are created. It’s an exhibit that almost elicits a need to touch and explore the pieces from their nuanced, delicate complexity.

Crossing by Brenna K. Murphy utilizes the same kind of complexity. But it’s a labour of love, painstakingly slow and focused. Within the work, there’s an idea of reverence for the length of lace that looks so breakable and easily tangled. It’s solemn, the motions of deconstructing a sweater for the threads to create something new; deconstructing the old clothes in a process of grief.

It is there, coiled but unexpressed, and the creation of this lace over a long period of time, as if looking for all the time that heals, and creating a sadness that is now tangible – it is an art piece that spans long and delicate across an entire room.

Finally, the closet of the bedroom of / offscreen / by Robert J. Fitzgerald is located near the entrance of the gallery, while the rest is situated near the back, as if a teaser to the private life of a teenage boy. The exhibition uses personal materials, creating a sense of nostalgia as projections of old films play in the intimate corners of an adolescent’s bedroom – between the window shutters, underneath bed sheets, in a sock drawer.

There is definitely something secluded about a bedroom, now opening it up for a glimpse of someone’s individual life. It’s comfortable, excluded from the outside world save for the projections of films that have influence on this privacy.

Each work exploring material to embody a particular narrative, the MFA Thesis Exhibition is worth a trip to the Stamps Gallery.

REVIEW: PCAP 23rd Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners

March 28, 2018March 30, 2018 Sophie Cloherty Leave a comment

“When the prison gates slam behind an inmate, he does not lose his human quality; his mind does not become closed to ideas; his intellect does not cease to feed on a free and open interchange of opinions; his yearning for self-respect does not end; nor his quest for self-realization concluded…” ~ U. S Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Procunier v. Martinez (1974).

Walking into Duderstadt Gallery is like walking into the classroom of a long-time art teacher who has never been able to find it in his or her heart to remove the works of past loved and brilliant students from the space. Bathed in afternoon light, every inch of wall is dripping in acrylic and pen. Central tables and podiums are covered with beads and wire, metal work and weaving. Bins on the floor hold spill-over canvases.

“The Artistic Drive Personified” Bryan Picken, Cardboard.

It’s five o’clock on a Monday and I am not alone. In fact, I am surprised by the number of people milling about here on North Campus beside me and my trusty photographer —a woman explains to her three-year-old the concept of a collage, an elderly couple consider purchasing a chessboard layered with embroidery thread, two gallery attendants buzz around answering questions about story and price.

“Imaginary Cello” Oliger Merko, Oil, $215

A sign on the wall offers the above quote from Justice Marshall and explains that the sensory overload I am experiencing is the result of 658 works by 582 different artists from Michigan’s 28 prisons. The quote in conjunction with the surreal nature of these numbers inform how I move about the space. There’s no rhyme or reason to the physical layout of the works. Works by the same artist are not grouped together and medium is a consistent surprise.

I am excited to recognize the style of one of the artists in two places. A Millet like attention to paint application and a somber blurring of form attracts me to Oliger Merko’s painting “Imaginary Celo.” Merko’s work captures the lilting sounds of the instrument in image. Caroline, a lovely and knowledgeable gallery assistant who’s been involved in PCAP since her sophomore year, explains that Merko is the student of Martin Vargas, another artist in the exhibition, who was just recently released. His work “Painting His Way Home” hangs on an opposite wall.

Many of the artists in the exhibition are interconnected in similar, informal mentor apprentice relationships. Some have attended facilitated workshops, but more have consistently pursued their craft on their own. (Read more about PCAP’s mission, programs, and workshops here). Many of the works have an air of technical realism, prioritizing linear form. Merko’s work reveals a detail image of his real home. Some artists generate revenue by giving their talent over to portraiture. Scattered throughout the space you can find studies of Michael Jackson, Obama, Tupac, Albert Einstein, and family photographs.

“Erasures” Yurself Quavo, Pastel & Pencil, $135.

There are themes of tattooing and reunion, whimsy and religion. Many works double as political commentary. A heart-retching number of clocks pounds an inescapable theme of ticking time into the exhibit.

The materials are just as intriguing and important as the works themselves—a Detroit novelty clock made with floor sealant, a strange little sculpture made of bread, coffee, floor sealer and modge podge.

“Ostean Glasses” Kevin A. Craig, Coffee Brown $665.

“Everybody Has A Time” Clay Chapman, bread, coffee, floor sealer, modge podge, $40.

“East Meets West” RIK, Pen & Watercolor, $365.

The exhibit is as interactive as it is expansive. A guest book on a podium by the door offers the chance to respond directly to the artists and their work. After the exhibit’s close in April, every artist will get a hard copy of the full book. Three days after opening, the book is already half full. A young girl takes up half a page with a simple message in big block letters: JOSHUA FOONCE I LOVE YOUR HORSE. Caroline points out the artist RIK’s stand out watercolor “East Meets West” on a nearby wall. She explains that during last years exhibit a visitor discovered and cracked the code embedded in the work. The visitor addressed the artist in the guest book in the artist’s own code. This year RIK hopes the visitor will be back to crack it again.

On another table by the entrance is a binder of artists’ statements. The statement numbers correspond to the number beside the work on the wall. I tried working backwards: finding a statement and then searching for the painting. I flipped to Keldrick Brown’s statement, an image of a skull and bones surrounded by the words “no future die alone.” I was taken with the corresponding image: “Et in Arcadia Ego,” a new-age like scene of an androgynous body erupting into flame surrounded by poetry—words that seem to expand on the artist’s statement itself.

Other statements attach titles to stories: Paul Kendrickson writes about his work “Meg and Kids:” “Meg and Kids” working in the garden here at LRF. I caught and raised Meg a (field mouse) she was around three months old when I got her and I didn’t want to see her hurt. I trained her to run on a wheel while I built and even potty trained her. I kept her in a big tub with sod. I built a house a potty box and the wheel just like in my painting. I had her for three years and all the inmates and staff loved Meg. My fellow inmates would call me Meg’s dad.”

“Paradise” Curtis Dawkins, Acrylic, $125.

The art, of course, breathes in its own space. However, for a full exhibit experience, it seems an obligation to also pair each work with the stories of the artists themselves. Caroline directs my attention to a painting she bought herself: a delicate acrylic by Curtis Dawkins. She explains that Dawkins, one of the more high profile artists of the exhibit, is currently engaged in a lawsuit with the State of Michigan. Serving a life sentence without parole, Dawkins made money off a book deal with Scribner, an associate print house of Simon & Schuster, while behind bars. While Dawkins seeks to use the money to help fund the education of his three children, the State wants to claim 90% to offset the cost of Dawkins’ imprisonment. Find more information here: NYTimes

This exhibit is tactile and hard-hitting, tangible evidence of the persistence and infallible presence of the artistic mind and body. It’s more like stepping into an echo chamber than a gallery (though many works would fit in seamlessly at UMMA). If you’re anything like me, you’ll have to visit three more times or sit down on the bench by the window for a while in order to let all the visuals and sounds mix and flow through you: the explosive use of color and medium, the words, the names, the profiles, the loud individual voices that spill out from the cardboard canvases.

Feature image: “Time to Bloom” Susan Brown, Beads & Chipboard, $20.

Location: Duderstadt Center (Media Union)

Gallery Dates/Hours:

Exhibition open March 21 through April 4.

Sunday-Monday, 12pm-6pm
Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-7pm
Closed Sunday, April 1.

PREVIEW: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Chick Corea

March 28, 2018March 28, 2018 ajayw Leave a comment

On Saturday March 31st, Hill Auditorium will host the world renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Chick Corea, a master of jazz piano. Chick is known for winning 22 Grammys amongst many other awards and titles during his illustrious career. In addition to his world class piano playing, Chick has composed many tunes that have become modern day standards, including “Spain”, “500 Miles High, and “La Fiesta”. The concert program is set to feature original music written by Chick. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is not the type of orchestra that most people think of when they hear the word. It is a big band that features about 15 wind and brass musicians and a drummer. The JLCO operates under the direction of music director Wynton Marsalis, but Chick will be leading the ensemble this performance at Michigan. As the resident touring big band for Jazz at Lincoln Center, this ensemble is one of the best big bands in the United States. Overall the concert looks like it will be an incredible performance of some of the best jazz musicians in this country. The best part is that the concert now starts at 8:30 to allot extra time for the audience members to see the Michigan Men’s Basketball team play in the Final Four. Tickets start at $12 for students and can be bought on the UMS website.

PREVIEW: Logic: Who Can Relate?

March 28, 2018March 28, 2018 ajayw Leave a comment

On Friday, March 30th, the University of Michigan will be hosting Logic, a Grammy Award winning rapper, to perform in historic Hill Auditorium as part of its Mental Health week. The ability to land a star like Logic to headline a week for a cause as important as Mental Health awareness is a huge boon to the success of the week as a whole. While Logic will perform a full concert’s worth of music, including his recent hit, 1-800-273-8255, the event will feature more starpower than just him. Actor Glenn Close and football player Brandon Marshall will both be in attendance and contributing to the event in some way. Both have significant ties to Mental Health awareness initiatives and charities. Close founded her own charity, BringChange2Mind, to help get rid of the discrimination that surrounds mental illness, in support of her sister, who has bipolar disorder. Marshall was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and has been a huge advocate for the destigmatization of it ever since he went public about his personal situation. The event will feature other guest performers and speakers who will address various topics within the scope of mental health. It sounds like it will be an exceptional night that will combine incredible music making with powerful mental health awareness presentations to truly create an impact on the way we, the students at the University of Michigan, view mental health in Ann Arbor and everywhere else we go.