High tide of creative artwork

“Tides”

Various artists

Through March 30

Regina Gouger Miller Gallery…

“Tides”

Various artists

Through March 30

Regina Gouger Miller Gallery

Purnell Center for the Arts

Carnegie Mellon University

(412) 268-3618

Installation pieces and images rise from the floor and stretch across walls while videos and audio recordings play in the latest Carnegie Mellon art exhibit, “Tides.” Ian Charlesworth, Seamus Harahan, Michael Hogg, Sandra Johnston, Mary McIntyre, Darren Murray, Aisling O’Beirn, Peter Richards and Alistair Wilson are the artists featured in the exhibit.

Carnegie Mellon’s Regina Gouger Miller Gallery will exhibit works from these nine Northern Ireland artists until March 30. The significance behind several of the works on display is often explicit, yet produces profound ideas.

At first glance, Aisling O’Beirn’s installation, “And Other Storeys,” appears simple. Small models constructed from cardboard, pins and wood lie on the gallery floor. One model looks like a stadium, another like a tumbling tower with a shovel placed beneath its twisting base.

On a screen across the gallery, O’Beirn includes a video with her installation that describes what each model represents. Here, the viewer learns that the stadium represents the Superdome and the atrocities that took place within the stadium after Hurricane Katrina.

The tower signifies St. Mark’s Campanile in Venice, Italy. The tower collapsed on July 14, 1902, and was rebuilt and reopened on April 25, 1912. By combining history with art, the accompanying video adds great depth to O’Beirn’s cardboard constructions.

Michael Hogg’s installation piece, “Pivot,” stands in the center of the second floor gallery space. Hogg presents the viewer with a metal ladder and a stack of what appears to be campaign posters. The posters extend from the top of the ladder, allowing onlookers to observe the image above them – the bottommost poster depicts the head of a candidate.

Hogg’s installation piece causes one to wonder what the motive is behind his work. Perhaps Hogg comments on political races and the weight each candidate places on the voter.

On the wall behind Hogg’s installation piece hangs Peter Richard’s “Take Too, Little Action.” Richard’s large photograph covers much of the gallery wall and appears to be an orange negative of an image. A large group of people wearing unique clothing and masks are captured in Richard’s photograph. Some individuals are dressed in plaid skirts while others wear robes.

Next to Richard’s piece and behind a black curtain plays Seamus Harahan’s video, “Tessies.” Harahan describes his videos as “an absent minded gaze in response to the world