• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Thursday, February 27, 1997

ART:

'Impudent' allows students to go beyond genre and theme limitsBy Ismael Osuna

Daily Bruin Contributor

Where else but UCLA's third annual Senior Art Exhibit can a person go see a piece titled "Smushfat Motherfucker ­ Babaa Do Saale Ko" and intentionally poor photography on display as art?

Titled "Impudent," this year's Senior Art Exhibit exemplifies the caliber of work that UCLA art students are able to produce when given the chance. For many senior art students, the exhibit is a chance to show the ability and knowledge they have gained as artists while at UCLA.

Beginning Friday at the Wight Art Gallery and running until March 22, the exhibit is a center of innovative talent.

Each student of senior standing in the art department is allowed to enter one piece of original art to the exhibit. What is unique about the show is that the piece can be of their own choosing. Also, none of the exhibits have been created to fit a specific theme or genre and so exemplify art in its purest and most inspired form.

"This is an opportunity to show the community what we're all about," says Jeremiah Day, a senior art student whose contribution to the exhibit is a collection of poorly shot photographs. "These works are about processes as opposed to object making. They've come out of inquiry instead of just making a pretty picture. It shows what we've learned, how we've grown."

Started in a small space on the second level of the Wight Art Gallery, the Senior Art Exhibit has gained the recognition and respect of the art department in the past two years. This year it will be officially recognized by the department and has been given a budget to subsidize the exhibit.

"This is the first year that we have been officialized," Day says. He adds that he hopes the exhibit will become a legacy. "Last year we weren't sure it was going to happen, but this year we were sure, and we know it will happen next year too."

The student-run exhibit was begun two years ago by senior art students who felt dissatisfied with the way art pieces were chosen for exhibition in the Undergraduate Art Exhibit. The students felt that the juried form of choosing the pieces encroached upon their ability to express themselves fully as artists, and they decided to create their own exhibit where they could show their personal artistic expression.

"A hallmark of UCLA curriculum in the art department is that there is no genre to our artistic endeavors. We wanted to build upon this point," says Neha Choksi, a senior art student.

Even though the Senior Art Exhibit follows the presentation of the Undergraduate Art Exhibit, Lynne Chan, a senior art student and one of the students heading the committee in charge of the exhibit, denies the possibility that the two exhibits can be seen as a rivalry between different generations of artists within the same school.

"This exhibit should be taken more as a comparison between the work being created by undergraduates and graduating seniors in order to generate discussion," Chan says. "Seniors aren't required to have a thesis work as an end project to their undergraduate education, so this is our way of showing where we've come from."

In this way, the Senior Art Exhibit also presents a challenge to senior students exhibiting work.

"This is a great chance for us all, but at the same time it's a great chance for us to fall flat on our face," says Day. "Without a curator to guide us we're left to answer to ourselves."

Neha Choksi is also a member of the committee in charge of the exhibit, and feels that the Senior Art Exhibit is in any case a good learning experience.

"Many students will never get a chance to exhibit their work. With this exhibit we're giving them that chance. To me this exhibit is a comparative re-assessment of where I stand as an artist," says Choksi. "This should be a learning and growing experience for all who participate."

ART: The Senior Art Exhibit wil be at the Wight Art Gallery through March 22. There will be music and food at the opening Friday from 5-7 p.m.

SHAWN LAKSMI/Daily Bruin

Deanna Navakuku, a senior art student, prepares her piece "Plato" for display at the Wight Gallery. The exhibit opens Friday at 5 p.m.

Comments

Post a comment