Category: Visual Arts

PREVIEW: Take Your Pick: Collecting Found Photographs

JM Leave a comment

The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) invites visitors to “come help build [their] collection of “ordinary” American 20th-century photographs.” The exhibition Take Your Pick: Collecting Found Photographs, which will be on display through January 12, 2020, features over 1,000 amateur photographs from the 20th century. The photographs are on loan from the private collection of Peter J. Cohen, who has amassed more than 60,000 photographs from flea markets across the United States and Europe. Visitors may vote on their favorites, and the photographs with the most votes will be added to UMMA’s permanent collection.

In addition to being visitor-interactive, this exhibition asks some interesting questions regarding the definitions of art: “What belongs in a permanent collection, and why? Who and what should be represented, and how should we decide?” As is noted on the exhibition webpage, this collection of original photographs is of special significance in today’s digital age, when most photos only ever exist as files on an electronic device.

Be a part of the dialogue and check out Take Your Pick: Collecting Found Photographs at the University of Michigan Museum of Art!

REVIEW: Alli McPhail NCRC Exhibition

Kraig 2 Comments

This show was the first time that I had ever visited the North Campus Research Complex. The complex where the exhibition was housed was a wildly different aesthetic from the rest of the university. When one reaches NCRC Building 18, the first visual you are greeted with is the artistic sculptures on the exterior courtyard of the building. One sculpture is of a set of walls with a hole in one, the other sculpture is of a large ring, and the third sculpture is of a gigantic egg. Upon entering the building, it is a bit of a hunt to reach the McPhail Exhibition. One must take the elevator or walk down the stairs to the lower floor. As soon as you reach that lower floor, you must again take a second elevator to another lower floor, as the escalator tunnel is out of service at the time of this review. Upon coming down this elevator, one finally reaches the Alli McPhail Exhibition in the corridor. 

 

The corridor is a small, but cozy space, with tan marbled floors and yellow lighting. This gives the exhibition space a warm and desert-like aesthetic. Also, one can see a garden-like area outside of the corridor through large glass windows that display an atrium surrounded by concrete walls.  This desert-like aesthetic ties into McPhail’s artworks, as her work has much to do with the natural world. 

 

My favorite paintings included the following: Sedona, AZ; Emerald Lake, Canada; and East Grand Traverse Bay. In the Sedona, AZ painting, I enjoyed the usage of the hilltop perspective. I think that it gave a dynamic viewpoint from which the surrounding landscape could be viewed. The contrasting colors of the orange and brown cliff face, to the green forest in the valley, paired with the green and brown of the hill give an earthy, but majestic feeling. 

In the Emerald Lake painting, I was intrigued by the way in which the lake in the foreground and the hill in the background seemed to frame and display the mountain. I also enjoy the usage of cool colors in this painting. The careful conventions surrounding her usage of deep blues and greys for the lake gives an emotion of calm and stillness. The green colors in the painting add a fresh feeling that also serves to draw your eyes towards the stark white and grey of the President Range mountains. In the East Grand Traverse Bay painting, a feeling of warmth and summer was captured by the usage of bright blue, white, and tan acrylic paints. The dark color of the forests in the background surrounding the bay in the foreground breaks the monotony of the water while preparing your eyes to rest on the pale blue sky. 

 

In conclusion, I believe that this exhibition is the encapsulation of Alli’s intimate memories throughout her travels in North America. When viewing these works, you cannot help but to regain a sense of the grandiose views one might have when going on vacation as a child. There is a certain youthfulness here that leaves me refreshed and wanting to see more of Alli’s takes on nature. I would say that this exhibition is worth your time. If you find yourself within the North Campus Research Complex wanting a glimpse of the summer in these colder fall months, why not take a break and regain some of that warmth and wonder with Alli McPhail’s exhibition.

PREVIEW: Alli McPhail NCRC Exhibition

Kraig Leave a comment

At her latest exhibition at the University of Michigan, artist and architect Alli McPhail will be showcasing her newest collection of works entitled “Greetings from…”.  Alli’s artwork utilizes the artistic medium of painting through the usage of acrylic. Her artworks are influenced strongly by her vivid observations found through her experiences in nature. 

 

This event will be held at the University of Michigan’s North Campus Research Complex (NCRC) within Building 18. The North Campus Research Complex is an interdisciplinary collaboration area for scientists and faculty members that facilitates research. One can get to the NCRC by taking the Northwood Bus from the Central Campus Transit Center and getting off at the Plymouth Road Crosswalk. From there, it is only a six minute walk to the research center. The event’s exhibition dates are from September 13th to December 13th. It will be interesting to see how her architectural background informs her artwork. Be sure not to miss out on the “Greetings from…” exhibition before it ends! 

 

REVIEW: Kelsey Museum of Archaeology’s Graffiti as Devotion

Ruth Leave a comment

Before I proceed to the actual review of the Graffiti as Devotion exhibit, I’d like to take a moment to praise the kind man at the front desk who greeted me as I walked into the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology for the first time. He obviously could tell that I had no idea where anything was, and so beckoned me over to his desk immediately with a smile and a: “Hello! How are you doing today? Have you been in the museum before?”

Let me just say, that was the first time I’d ever been greeted so enthusiastically at a museum before. Normally, I’m just given a suspicious, once-over glare by one of the on duty security guards as they silently warn me not to breath on any of the exhibits. At least, that’s how its been at any museum I’ve ever gone to. But not at Kelsey! So, as I made my way up the stairs to their Graffiti as Devotion exhibit, I made a silent promise to the front desk man: “Even if this exhibit is horrible and I have to give an unpleasant review, at least I can make a point of praising their staff!”

I am very relieved to say that this will not be an unpleasant review, so if you were looking forward to a cutthroat rail against an archaeology exhibit, I’m sorry to disappoint…not really.

Graffiti as Devotion is an exhibit that highlights ancient graffiti found by a team of Kelsey archaeologists in El- Kurru, Sudan. The site is best known as a pyramid cemetery for the ancient kings and queens of Kush who ruled from 850 to 650 BCE., according to exhibit information. These ruins harbor many religious carvings (graffiti), diligently carved into the stone by pilgrims who traveled for miles in order to witness, what they believed, to be holy places of their gods.

At first, I was surprised to see that there was next to nothing in the way of photographs of this precious ancient graffiti. The few photographs there were, were small and placed on large canvases that featured extensive text concerning El-Kurru and the graffiti found there. However, I soon discovered, (while reading these texts), that there was a good reason photographs of the graffiti weren’t present. Because the graffiti is carved into stone, the appearances of the carvings vary greatly depending on the light of day. Thus, in order to show the graffiti of El-Kurru as faithfully as possible, the Kelsey team took hundreds of photos of many of the graffiti carvings across the site, all at different times of day. They then coalesced these images into an interactive program that allows the viewer to select a certain graffito and drag their finger across the screen in order to see how the carving’s appearance changes throughout the day. Thus, not only is a visitor of the exhibit able to learn about El-Kurru and the Kushite religion from the canvases across the walls, but they are then able to interact with the topic they have just been immersed in.

Come check out the exhibit for yourself! It will be on display through March 29th, 2020.

And say hello to the man at the front desk!

 

 

 

 

REVIEW: Out There: A Performance by art duo Princess

Emma Pinchak Leave a comment

There is a distinct difference between natural weirdness and the sort that is manufactured. Entitling an album “Out There” is far too self-realizing a move to truly belong to the former distinction. Things can be disastrous in cases like these, and unfortunately Princess’ performance veered quite drastically into the side of inorganic. This is not to say that there was no value in their work; quite the opposite, the intentional obscurity of meaning, though cringeworthy, was useful in forcing me to figure my own ideas about what I was seeing and hearing.

A concept album seems perhaps the wrong medium for what these two are doing. There is simply a lot going on, and their work suffers as a result.  They have a good sense of rhythm and tune (especially the flow of the rapping sections), but whatever their flat choreography was supposed to be doing was not being accomplished. The lyrics were often impossible to glean much meaning from. Most notably, the “party-party-party” song, most of whose words were about as inspired as you might imagine. I could speculate on what the song’s purpose is, perhaps some link to the procedural, routine nature of party culture, and the poisons that hide within its mindlessly indulgent atmosphere–the sexual harassment and assault, the brainwashing of men to be hunters who deserve prey, of women to bat their eyelashes and be a thing to desire. But to expect an audience to leap this far to make any conclusion of meaning is a bit much.

A bit too dark to see, but they are currently on the ground in anatomical position.

The space travel motif’s linkage to the album’s purpose was unclear. And though it was often visually striking, I found it relied too heavily on a single type of color scheme (red/blue combination and the vibrant, neon flat coloring of random objects). Also, the repetitive, jerky movements of the characters and objects in the video got old about halfway through the act. However, it still must be noted that the complex layering technique of visual artist Jennifer Meridian was impressive, if at times monotonous. Her work might perhaps be more suited for shorter videos and advertisements that demand the sense of excitement her design provides so well.

Mostly what I find fault with in the performance was its over-the-top brashness. I find it distracts from an audience’s ability to gather meaning from what they are experiencing. It’s more closely related to modern art than an exploration of misogyny in society. In all its spectacular glory I feel they are unable to develop their ideas into anything beyond the surface level. This is a shame, because the two clearly have an enormous creative capacity. I feel that, if they used their potential differently, they could have great success in creating thoughtful, deep, provocative art. While I and others in the audience can certainly derive our own meaning from the performance, the chasm over which we must stretch to get there is too wide. Perhaps this is the result of too many strongly creative people collaborating on a single project–in the process it became too much of a conglomeration than a precise piece of art.

If you’d like to check out the album for yourself, it’s currently available for preorder at their website bandofprincess.com. There you can witness one of their songs under the “videos” tab, and find other information about the band, including tour dates and background on the duo’s origins.

 

PREVIEW: Out There: A Performance by art duo Princess

Emma Pinchak Leave a comment

I’m always one for expanding my horizons, especially when it comes to the arts. I have no idea what to expect for this one! Part performance art, part film, Out There approaches a serious subject (mens’ role in combatting misogyny in society) with creativity. Described as having a “science fiction narrative,” the performance is a collaboration by JD Samson, visual artist Jennifer Meridian, and the band TEEN.

The event has free admission, though there is a limit to how many people can occupy the performance room. So, please RSVP via https://www.eventbrite.com/e/out-there-a-performance-by-art-duo-princess-tickets-70631796605.

See you Friday, October 11 at 5 PM at the Stamps Gallery, 201 S Division St!