The UMMA has features captivating artists in their special exhibits, but from June 11 to November 6 of this year, the museum has brought a member of the University of Michigan to the spotlight: Catie Newell.
After briefly reading a synopsis of the artist and her work, I enter the room. My presence is immediately acknowledged by two rows of prints, who beckon me to their attention. I answer their call and inspect them: images of dark city nights radiate tones of mystery, but in each scene, light illuminates a fragment of old buildings or tall trees. I’m captivated by the metallic sheen of these prints, animating the light within the images so that the scene that sits before my eyes interacts with me rather than standing isolated.
The prints, however, are derived of their attention once I notice an array of aluminum wire that hangs from the center of the room. Usually enlightened at night, I gaze at the structure, attempting to translate Newell’s perspective of darkness and urban landscape into coherent sentences. Perplexed at the subject of the gallery, dissatisfaction festers within me when my visit to the gallery is cut short.
A Detroit-based architect and assistant professor at the U-M Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning, Catie Newell is entranced by light and its relationship to architecture; the two seem to interact in a situational fashion, rather than separate entities. Newell encompasses this relationship by the two pieces showcased at the UMMA. Nightly, which is the collection of prints I mentioned earlier, uses the streetlights of Detroit as its subject. With this project, Newell investigated the two dimensions of the city: one that is clear at daylight, and one that thrives in the shadows of twilight. Overnight, the three-dimensional piece, works in collaboration with the gallery’s exposure to light in order to serve as a living entity of how architecture behaves in light and dark.
Catie Newell’s Overnight exhibit sparked a fascination of the elusive behavior of light in me that I did not know I would have. This exhibit will be open until November 6 from 8:00am to 5:00pm, so please do come out to see Newell’s work!
