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Volume CXXXII, Number 13 |
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Kresge gets trashed by senior art majors
GREG T. SPIELBERG
ORIENT STAFF
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| Seniors Josh Rudner, Amy Funkenstein, and Adriana Schick ponder the mystery, nay the spirit, of "Black and White Trash." From photography to printmaking, the show displays the work of two talented artists. (Greg T. Spielberg, Bowdoin Orient) |
It's not everyday that beer cans with rubbers and prosecuted monks come together in one room. However, seniors Noah Lambie and Cecily Upton united these two polar opposites in their exhibition titled, "Black and White Trash: A Before and After Show."
The exhibit, which opened on Thursday, January 30, displays over thirty pieces from their four years at Bowdoin College and abroad. Paintings, photographs, prints, and sketches line the walls while sculptures constructed out of Michelobs and Coors are cased in glass. Along with the musical accompaniment and boxed wine, Kresge had the feel of a MOMA exclusive without the socialites.
In addition to their own art, Upton and Lambie created a collage of left-for-dead shots taken by fellow Bowdoin students and grads. The 'trashed' photos were pasted against a wall, extending to the floor before cascading outwards horizontally. "We just collected pictures off tables and out of garbage bins, ones people left from their classes," said Lambie, a Physics and Visual Arts major."
"Black and White Trash" is Upton's second opening of the year. Last semester she displayed photos from her time abroad in Tibet in Chamberlain dorm. While the previous show included color shots as well, the only pigmentation this time was in her paintings. Her red and orange self-portraits reveal an artist skillfully depicting facial emotions while framing a larger study. Upton's most powerful piece work is the full-length sketch-an assertive but painful expression emitting from her wide hollowed eyes.
"My favorite mediums are photography and print-making. I like to go out into the world and be inspired by concrete things rather than my imagination," said Upton. "Noah's done more sculpture though," she added
Lambie brought new meaning to the phrase, 'beer goggles' with his Can Constructivism. In one display, visitors were invited to peer through binoculars of domestic alcohol cans to see the mirrored kaleidoscope created by well-placed incisions. Another piece consists of sculpted cans-one with a protruding hand cut from its side, another a diminutive handbag. "I wanted to put something together with materials I use everyday," said Lambie.
"I have the most fun with photos and just playing with photography techniques. Ripping apart the process and exposing transitions between different realities."
He does just that in a piece titled, "Memory." Here Lambie pencils in sections of his Pine Street Apartments photograph, blurring the viewer's grasp on where the film ends and lead begins. In another Lambie original, the artist creates a portrait out of nothing but his own signature. While hard-liners criticize the pen drawing as Napoleonic, the end result is a thoroughly original work of art. "It started as an exercise in drawing. I got a little obsessive and just liked writing my name. But then it wasn't my name anymore, it was a technique to add ink."
Complementing the opening was the music talents of The Ed Sweeney and R.W. Martel Experience. Despite having their own set-list tailored for the show, they also accepted requests as well as treating visitors to a round of dueling banjos. "The art inspires our musicianship," said Martel. Sweeney added emphatically, "I just like white trash."
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