The Fall 2006 Senior Thesis Exhibition is now on display in the Lederer Gallery. The exhibition features the final works of Geneseo senior art students Christopher Bruce, Brenna Van Norman, Martin Phillips and Tom Magnarelli. The show will run until Dec. 14.
Bruce relied heavily on graphic and computer design in his pieces. On display was an enticingly retro piece called "Smoothie Recipes" which was commissioned for a patron's kitchen. T-shirt graphics and works integrating pencil and computer programs were also on display in his section.
Van Norman crafted two thought-provoking and conceptually interlocked pieces concerned with the United States' continual problem with generating excessive waste. She created her works with over 500 ceramic trays that represented the amount of Styrofoam trays that Wegman's will use during the period her work would be on display.
Her second work was a set of four shriveled pieces of produce resting on unchanged Styrofoam containers, representing the transient nature of what we purchase and the long-lasting effects of the waste we produce.
Phillips worked with a wide variety of materials, integrating wood, ceramics, copper and tin as his main mediums. He crafted wooden reliefs, ceramic temples, and a stand-out of work the show, a nearly nine-foot creature resembling an ostrich entitled "Ethernity." The piece integrated other mediums including cardboard, cloth, chicken wire and old CDs to create the myriad of textures exhibited by the enormous piece.
Sarah Wolfsont worked towards addressing gender stereotypes in her 16-piece installation. Using household objects with distinctly male and female characteristics or connotations, she juxtaposed them together to create microcosms of conflicting gender ideas. The small individual displays were formed on small dinner plates, which were all elevated off the ground by white square pedestals.
Magnorelli displayed his work by creating a darkly shaded room with the walls plastered by the various works. He used primarily ink, pencil and watercolor in his works, and many of the works in the room were partial pieces, some sketches, some noticeably unfinished. The room, which included a small chair in a corner, creates a sense of comfort and intimacy. His love of pop-culture was also a prevalent in his work, and continued the trend of homely adolescence in the exhibition space.