The Kinetic Gallery is currently home to three senior exhibits. Seniors Megan Webb, Hui-Ching (Olivia) Yang and Mayumi Kikuchi are the contributing seniors to this particular exhibit.
The exhibit contains a wide variety of mixed-media projects and products, ranging from the political to the ephemeral in message. The result of these artists' work is a respectable representation of artistic visions coming to fruition.
Webb's exhibit, entitled Came Hell and High Water, is concerned with the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, and her experiences visiting the ravaged areas of Mississippi during a trip there in January. Her work is a layering of sketch work, photographic collage and painting. The mission Webb lays out for herself is to address the social and economic inequalities that still exist in the Katrina-ravaged areas. These inequalities are presented in her art as due not only to the power of nature but also the inefficiency of the recovery efforts.
Webb's work is limited in amount; in essence, her exhibit is one piece comprised of a powerful message. Webb uses rudimentary sketches of broken people hugging the floor of the Kinetic, separated from the painted grandeur yet muddled presence of the capitalist reconstruction, represented by casinos which were quickly up in these otherwise devastated areas. These are displayed as a photo collage shaped into a vast wave. The message is clean, clear and well-executed, but as a body of work it is lacking in comprehensiveness.
Kikuchi deals more with abstract concepts in her displayed work, presenting her pieces under the title of Life and Nature: Expressing the Joy. The exhibit, integrating sculptural pieces and large-size sketches, delves into the inherently active nature of everything. Her drawings are tremendously well-crafted, and are dynamic yet simple in their execution. Using junior Meaghan Fitzgerald as a model, Kikuchi's work captures the fluidity that the human form can create. Her sculptural work is interesting as well, but doesn't have the visual dynamism or finely honed craftsmanship her drawings do.
Yang's work is a particularly jarring experience as it presents translucent stomachs and their contents. Yang's creations are entitled "Dwelling" and she writes that, "a dwelling is where you live...the place where you draw nourishment of all kinds." This seemingly docile and tranquil statement is juxtaposed strongly with the blunt works, stomachs containing mashed and mangled food, most beyond recognition. Dwelling, these works suggest, is not so much a place of comfort, but more a place of containment, a place to put nourishment, but little else. While her message may not exactly line up with the work, the work easily stands alone as the most distinctive of the pieces, if not the most aesthetically appealing.
The Kinetic Gallery will be presenting these senior exhibition works until April 12. There are also senior exhibitions being presented in the Lederer gallery and the Bridge gallery both located in Brodie Hall.