Fresh

“Whatever your recent work is, bring it in.”

That is the criterion for exhibiting in the… “Whatever your recent work is, bring it in.”

That is the criterion for exhibiting in the Studio Arts Faculty Exhibition, according to Michael Morrill, chair of Pitt’s Studio Arts department. The biannual exhibition, showing through Feb. 15 at the University Art Gallery in the Frick Fine Arts Building, presents the individual talents of the studio arts faculty.

“It’s very open – people bring in what they are working on. It’s probably fair to say it’s pretty fresh work,” Morrill said.

The works of 14 artists who currently make up the studio arts faculty are shown, and include a wide range of form and media: abstract and representational drawing; and painting in acrylics, enamels, inks, oils, wax, charcoal, pastels and pencils; installations and sculptures composed from plaster, handmade wool felt, cotton, lambskin, paraffin, thread, drywall, microscope slides, steel studs, electrical tape; and silk and digital prints of computer-manipulated photography.

“It’s a fascinating show that is really focusing the talented artists we have in our midst,” gallery director Josienne Piller said.

Although the show comprises individual representations, many of the works evoke timeless and universal themes from the human experience such as birth, destruction and renewal, consciousness, or saying goodbye to a parent. Most of the works communicate on a basic level – some through abstract language, some through figurative language – rather than referencing specific motifs from contemporary society for socio-economic, political or cultural experience, or as metaphor for more primal experience. It seems that many of the artists knew what they wanted to do and how they wanted to do it, resulting with pieces that produce immediate responses to the artists’ vision.

“We Weep” and “Flora/Fauna,” two sculptures of large organic objects by Joanna Commandaros, reflect an eternal cycle of life: one nurtures and preserves the other until it is time to pass on. Giant white plaster roses that sprout lush, twisting, pale-colored felted-wool tendrils and seedpods elicit serene feelings of comfort and rejuvenation.

“[The roses] speak to the cycles of life and the uniqueness of each unfolding,” Commandaros said. “This metaphor for individuality occurs in people, moments, families, cultures and generations.”

Continuing the organic theme, Hilary Shames’ “Autochthons (Children of the Soil)” and series of six “DHGHEM” charcoal sketches are installed in an octagonal room, “Autochthons” is a lambskin rug that has been shaped into a mound at one end. Spiraling around – and emerging from – the cervix-shaped mound are small organically shaped moldings of translucent paraffin wax that suggest seeds or young life. The “DHGHEM” sketches follow and expand upon the shapes of the paraffin moldings, and hung on the walls encircling “Autochthons,” foster a sense of being “planted” in fertile soil.

Lauren Friedman’s series of four pastel drawings, “Lazarus and the Swan: No More Lamentation,” “Lazarus and the Swan: Sleep,” “Lazarus and the Swan: The Dance,” and “Lazarus and the Swan: Surrender,” draw from biblical and mythological imagery. She introduces Lazarus – a man raised from the dead, rendered in shades of gray – to Zeus in the form of a seducing aqua-blue swan. The drawings are inspired by AIDS patients who once faced death, but now confront resuming a life prolonged by medical treatment.

Combining the two characters was “kind of esoteric,” Friedman said. “It develops into this kind of relationship when you have one person who is vulnerable and another character takes advantage of the situation. The bird never really leaves, but never really takes over.”

Friedman, who frequently includes a strong sense of rich fabrics and touch in her works, recreates on paper dark blue velvet, which is dramatic and elegant contrasted with the brilliant stylized swan. Friedman enjoyed using the swan. “Visually, they’re beautiful, scary, and weird,” she said.

“The Unfurling,” inspired by the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is a large abstract painting on three panels by Morrill. Just as it was inspired by events of destruction, Morrill created the bleak, distressed look of “The Unfurling” by employing “brutal treatment which is purposeful, sanding and scraping.”

Through an “abstracted vocabulary” of curving warm red lines, full of motion against a plane of blue, the first panel alludes to the coming destruction. The contrast within the second panel – diffused vertical lines in pale cool tones and shadow – eerily conveys the sudden violent collapse. A glimmer of hope appears with a subtle reintroduction of color and an upward motion in the final panel.

All the works in the exhibit are executed with a high degree of technical craftsmanship and consideration for visual design.

Five abstract canvasses by Kenneth Batista consist of soft, rich base colors that are then layered with precise and uniform lines of acrylic. The vivid “Blue Veil I” and “Blue Veil II” are composed vertically with a strong separation of layers, while “Fragmented Grid I,” “Fragmented Grid II” and “Untitled,” weave layers of vertical and horizontal lines with soft color washes, producing inviting, warm textile textures that subtly vary across the surface of the painting.

Most of Holland Williams’ eight energetic compositions combine themes and palettes that are exaggeratedly feminine: pink, orange, ivory and white. Her oil and enamel pigments appear to be significantly thinned before they are applied. The compositions are created from control over the fluid color, with surfaces appearing glossy and wet.

In George Magalios’ installation “Plans for a Figure Drawing Studio (not to scale), Circa 2003 C.E.,” a Barbie doll falls off a small pedestal surrounded by drywall and steel beams. An unlit bare light bulb dangles from the ceiling into the center of the work. A drawing pencil and quick figure sketches are secured with electrical tape to the wall behind the doll. The colors in the piece are chosen to unify its elements – Barbie’s ultra-tan skin tone and bleach-blond hair color resonate though the paintings and sketches that are included in the installation – but it has an overall feeling of incompleteness and abandonment, and raises questions about how the plans for this particular drawing studio went awry.

While flexible collaboration in organizing the show exists among the director of the gallery and artists – resulting with its aesthetically effective design – funding limitations pose some basic challenges in how the works are installed and exhibited.

According to Piller, the gallery walls are rarely painted between shows because the fees for union painters, required by the University, are unaffordable for the gallery. As a result, nails cannot be put into the walls, and artists sometimes need to incorporate the restriction into their work.

Short funding may also have limited the quantity of printed information about the artists and the works available to viewers of the exhibition. That’s not a problem, though. You are free to have a direct, immediate and personal response. It’s just the art here, and it’s good.

The 2003 Studio Arts Faculty Exhibition will run through Feb. 15 at the University Gallery in the Frick Fine Arts Building. Upcoming gallery talks by the artists include a talk Wednesday at noon by Hilary Shames, and Wednesday, Feb. 12 at noon by Joanna Commandaros and Delanie Jenkins. The gallery is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, call (412) 648-2423.