By AMELIA MATECEK/Staff Writer
Upon entering the Meadows Gallery within the R. Don Cowan Fine and Performing Arts Center, I was faced with artworks exhibiting vibrant colors, soft brush strokes and the calm scenery of nature.
The 40th Annual International Exhibition opened on Jan. 21 and held its reception on Jan. 30 with guest juror Alexis Rockman.
“It’s visceral. The thing about art is who knows? Right?” said Rockman. “It’s all about subjectivity, but you have to be very educated, also, so you have to balance that and trust your gut, but you better know what you’re doing.”
Alexis Rockman, a painter and environmentalist, has been producing artwork for 40 years that depicts the future of the landscape and its animals dealing with the effects of global warming, pollution and genetic engineering.
While Rockman has illustrated these topics for years, they did not influence his decision-making in the exhibition as he states, “I try to shy away from things that are in my wheelhouse so to speak.”
The works range in mediums including sculpture, textile art, photography, and oil, acrylic and gouache paintings.
The selected works ironically highlighted Rockman’s personality, with bright pops of color contrasting the neutral tones of landscapes, animals, and nature mirrored Rockman’s bright white smile, neutral grey outfit, and shiny green loafers.
Under 400 artworks were submitted for the International Exhibition and Rockman chose 48 for the Exhibition.
“My least favorite part was the enormity of the decision and responsibility, and I suddenly realized, oh my god, I better like sit down and spend days doing this, but that’s a privilege, too, that I do enjoy,” said Rockman.
All artworks were sent digitally to Rockman which did pose a challenge as Rockman states, “Scale, material—all that stuff—is so important to work. I don’t know if I would’ve made the same decisions if I had seen the works in person. I am not saying that with regret it’s more like, somethings surprised me that they were smaller or bigger than what I thought. Even though I looked at the dimensions, it’s still hard to understand that.”
The 40th Annual International Exhibition will be open till March 7th featuring the artworks by many local artists and art students.
The space, organized by Gallery & Media Coordinator Michelle Taff, is bright, fun and calming in not only the piece’s position in the space but, also, thanks to the artist’s techniques and colors that bring unity to the exhibition.
A Talk at the University Center
Alexis Rockman hosted an artist talk in the University Center Theater on Jan. 31.
“It talks about my childhood, my early career—I’ve been doing this for 40 years—making a living—sometimes not a great living,” said Rockman
During the talk, Rockman spoke about both his childhood in New York and the nature around him that inspired his future work.
He showed childhood photos along with photos from his trips to Costa Rica, Guyana and the Galapagos demonstrating his love for animals and the environment.
Rockman has created several works that have been displayed in several museums including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Grand Rapids Art Museum.
Rockman also worked on Ang Lee’s film “Life of Pi” as the Inspirational and Conceptual Artist, showing many of his concept pieces alongside the scenes in the film.
Alexis Rockman has participated in several juried shows through the years and gave the artists present one piece of advice.
Rockman said, “I’m in a similar position that all the artists that are here and involved with this, whether you got it or not. I’ve been rejected many times from big public commissions, but I’ve gotten a couple, also, and it’s easy to get in and feel good about things, but if you weren’t included, teach me a lesson.”
Be the first to comment