Welcome Back Show

Last Friday (September 23rd) we went into the gallery to see the "Welcome Back Show".  Some works that I really connected to were Dustin Metz piece "Seer".  It was oil on wood and 63" X 48" (see below).  I liked this because of how active, worked, and vibrant it was, in both color and mood.  I love going close up to works and this was particularly great, you could really see the artist's hand and aggravation through the scratches, sharp penciled drawings and lumpiness of the paint.  It was incredibly active as was the rest of the room.  This area (Yellow Gallery #1) was greatly thought out and executed.  

  

Another gallery/room that was presented effectively was the Clifford Owens room.  I really really appreciated the way the 3 photos (on your left when you walk in) were positioned in a non conventional way.  It was really striking and my attention kept going back to them.  It was a beautiful way to present 3 horizontal photographs (see image below).  I also liked how small the images on the facing wall were.  They made them extremely intimate and demandingly invaded your personal space in order to view them properly which was similar to what was going on in the photos themselves; they were kind of uncomfortable situations that invaded others personal space (see 2nd image below).

 

Close up of one of the small images

The one major issue I had with the show was in the Red Gallery on the wall to your left when you walk in from the entrance.  It started with a piece from Gary Schneider entitled "Young Man" 1908/2008 (see below), followed by a Tom Nozkowski work, a Miranda Lichtenstein photograph and ended with Hanneline Rogeberg's piece "Big Hide" (see 2nd image below).  I thought this group was too literal next to one another.  The Schneider piece was a photograph of a man riddled with bites or chicken pox, which simplified would be separate circles.  The piece next to his, Nozkowski, was an abstract painting of separated circle-like shapes.  Then came another photograph of a person covered in an animal hide and the last piece was a painting of an animal hide.  So not only did it go photo, painting, photo, painting, but it went dots, dots, hide, hide.  The works themselves were visually stimulating, however as a group I really thought it was way to literal to have them next to one another. 





Gary Schneider

Hanneline Rogeberg