Pieces at the Annual Juried Student Exhibition in the University Art Gallery are hanging on the walls, suspended from the ceiling and even coming out of the floor. The exhibit is now open, showcasing student work in studio art, graphic design and photography.
Submissions were open to students in the art department or students who had taken a class in the art department within the last year. Painting instructor Daniel Dove curated the exhibit.
Brittany McKinney, a journalism junior and art minor who helped hang the show, said the show doesn’t have one specific theme. “It’s more a culmination of everything the students have done in the past year and things that they’re most proud of,” she said. McKinney will be replacing Paradise Osorio as Student Gallery Coordinator next school year after Osorio graduates.
“We had 223 entries and 85 got in. It was an incredibly competitive show,” she said.
Jurors Gale Dawson and Paul Cantanese, professors of San Francisco State University’s art department, awarded best in category and honorable mention titles to students in four different categories: 2D, 3D, graphic design and photography. They looked for “work that engages the notion of risk with material, concept, technique, content or form, while carefully avoiding cliché; work that emerges from deep engagement with the creative process, criticism and history,” according to their juror’s statement.
Best in category for photography went to Matthew Gonzales for his “Norvus Licentia” photos, a series of five black and white photos that follow a man through daily activities: in the bathroom, praying, curled up in bed, at a desk with cup of coffee, and shooting hoops in a gymnasium. An ever-present eye/orb is incorporated into each of the shots.
The eye-like orbs, which hang suspended in each of the photographs, provide interesting visual appeal and bring unity to the photos, especially because they push the viewer to notice additional circular objects in the compositions: the roll of toilet paper in the bathroom, the chandeliers hanging overhead in the church, the poster with global maps in the bedroom, the lampshade and coffee cup on the desk and the hoop and the center court circles in the gymnasium.
Honorable mention for photography went to Isacc Suttell for an untitled digital photo. The photo features a blonde bombshell in a blue velvet dress, posed in front of a geometric topiary garden.
Best in category for 2D went to Kyle Wilhelm, who had two large oil on canvas pieces in the show. “Cartography,” his winning piece, is a serene mix of greens and blues with contrasting textures.
Best in the 3D category went to Paradise Osorio, who used the floor to display her piece. The piece is a photo of her model in the ground under a plate of glass, her hand reaching up and touching the glass to give the impression that she is right there under the floor. The photo was the only surviving one of a three-piece art installation she did on California Boulevard near the Spanos Stadium earlier this year. Osorio said she noticed many students walk to and from campus with their heads down, and she wanted to give them a new perspective. The mixed media piece in the gallery is surrounded with sand, giving her viewers a taste of what the real art installation looked like.
Emily Linkin received honorable mention for her cleverly structured and serious 3D piece, “Timeline,” which is suspended from the ceiling near the entrance of the gallery. The fabric sculpture features pieces of camouflage-printed pants and other dark and canvas-like materials stuffed into an infinity-shaped symbol with the word “history” painted on it, repeated around the piece and painted to look like blood.
Jay Martinez won best in category for graphic design for a series of three posters called “Human Rights.” His three vertically hung posters composed with muted complimentary colors feature a chessboard, a Chinese finger trap and a set of matryoshka dolls. One poster declares, “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.”
Honorable mention in graphic design went to Damon Chin for his “Personal Identity System,” a clean-lined and innovative letterhead and envelope stationary design. The letterhead has rounded corners and clean, punchy colors.
The exhibit is open until Saturday. The University Art Gallery is located in the Dexter Building, room 171. The gallery is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays.