Critical Summaries

Leo Villareal - Art Exhibit

 

Leo Villareal is a digital artist who embraces digital media in a painterly manner, using hues, color, light and movement in an impressionistic way that is fascinating. Villareal’s three-month exhibit at the Nevada Museum of Art has not been without issues according to Sheryl, a docent at the museum. Shortly after the pieces were installed one of the LED tubes failed and it took several weeks for it to be replaced at a cost of $8,000. The exhibit features many different pieces created over a period of approximately a decade. The early pieces are relatively simple, small, and use light sources hidden behind a sheet of opaque Plexiglas. As the pieces progress color is introduced as well as different shapes and multiple complex adjoined housings. Firmament, created in 2001 is a dark room equipped with large wooden lounge couches covered in foam for the viewer to recline upon in the dark room and view the light piece suspended from the ceiling. The piece fills the entire room and is composed of a support structure of three concentric circles with 8 radiating lines which holds approximately 60 strobe lights. The effect is extremely disorienting. In 2007 Villareal created a piece called Diamond Sea, a large rectangular pane of mirror finished stainless steel with white lights that seem to travel across the space while dimming and brightening, creating a sense of depth in the piece. In 2008 Villareal created Big Bang, a circular piece composed of multiple small LEDs shifting in a radiating symmetrical pattern of swirling color, obviously intending to evoke the artists impression of the creation of the universe. In 2009 Primordial reflects a period in the artists life during which he and his wife were going through In-vitro fertilization in an attempt to have a child. The piece is a curious display of digital pixels resembling cells moving around and across a white expanse reminiscent of a Petri dish. My favorite piece was a patriotic Flag, waving across 13 LED tubes in full color. I found the piece thoughtful, there are 13 stripes on the flag after all, and beautifully nationalistic. The custom software, LED tubes, and electrical hardware necessary for such a vibrant piece are intimidating and fascinating. The exhibit overall was very different from other digital art I’ve seen, and I enjoyed it more because of it. Overall I found it surprisingly impressionistic and I enjoyed the novelty of light used to create an impressionistic piece of art, which is characterized by a concern with depicting the visual impression of the moment, especially in terms of the shifting effect of light and color.

Jeremy Stern - Artist Lecture




Jeremy Stern in a Master of Fine Arts Candidate. His thesis exhibit, began in the Front Door and McNamara galleries where Students collaborated by painting around and explaining the marks and remnants of past exhibits that can be seen on the walls. In the Sheppard Gallery the walls are also marked to  focus on remnants of past exhibits but when walking around the space the observer is surround by a collage of sound. Stern divided Reno with a grid and recorded sounds from each area. When an observer steps onto the corresponding grid in the gallery they hear sounds from around the city. The volume increases and decreases depending on where the observer stands, how many observers there are, a how they move within the gallery.
Stern began his lecture with a slide show of artists works that inspire him. He described his life influences and talked about Lucas Samaras and The Mirrored Room, Red Groom’s Happenings, and especially comic books and his favorite comic book store. He discussed his opinions of self portraits, as the stripped down culture and identity that make up an individual. Stern's work is largely concerning maps and collages. He uses images and symbols that represent where he has lived, as a sort of personal history that he identifies with. Other work is created using maps but cut up and rearranged to create interesting shapes and negative spaces using the boundaries and roads of the maps. While his work and lecture were entertaining and interesting I think it is apparent that Stern is still learning and deciding where his work is headed in the future.




Barbara London - Artist Lecture


Barbra London is the Video and Media Curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City(MOMA).  She travels speaking and curating video and media exhibits. In her lecture she discussed video and video and media art as pushing the envelope in art, constantly challenging the definition of art and she showed several clips and examples. She believes that digital art will continue to change and adapt as technology improves and changes. Her lecture focused on the different new media movements during the past 30 years New York. Through the pioneering work of artists like Nam June Paik, video art was made available to the world.  Short form videos were created represent the musical work of various artists, including the Beatles.  This use of popular culture, music, and video sparked the modern concept of music videos.  London’s work on Looking at Music is a compilation of the some of the most ground breaking music videos throughout their respective decade. Music videos like that of David Bowie allowed him to cultivate an image that the fans could easily identify.  The musician's character became another artistic form of expression through the use of video. MOMA is preserving video and media art history by collecting and archiving videos, posters, and photos from the music industry. London continually asks what is art. In a video by Laurie Anderson, she analyses the meaning and word choice of the National Anthem, saying understanding art is like understand the lyrics. She believes that artists cannot be categorized by medium or style because for most new artists, their medium changes. In music styles constantly shift and artists reinvent themselves.  London’s lecture called for a breakdown of barriers and anembracing of new mediums and techniques alongside renovation and renewal of old traditions.