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Volume CXXXII, Number 21 |
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Portland Museum welcomes Bowdoin artists
MATT LAJOIE
STAFF WRITER
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| Bowdoin student Eric Legris '03 is one of 70 Maine artists whose work will hang in the Portland Museum of Art during the Biennial. Several others with ties to Bowdoin, including some professors, are part of the show as well. (Courtesy of Eric Legris '03) |
When visitors enter the Portland Museum of Art for the next two and a half months, the first image that will greet them is "Transom," an installation piece by Bowdoin professor Mark Wethli. This is part of the 2003 Portland Museum of Art Biennial, an exhibition that showcases the work of Maine's best emerging and established contemporary artists.
The paintings, photographs, sculptures, works on paper, watercolors, installations, prints, and videos in the exhibit demonstrate the diversity of artistic work done by Maine artists over the past two years.
To be considered for the Biennial, artists submitted slides, an artist statement, and a résumé that were judged by "three leading figures of the contemporary art world."
Of the 877 artists who submitted applications to this year's Biennial only 70 were selected for the exhibit, and 10 of those artists have a connection to Bowdoin. In addition to Wethli, current faculty members Lucy Barber, John Bisbee, and James Mullen had pieces selected for the Biennial, as well as former faculty members Anne Harris, Sarah Malakoff, and Celeste Roberge, and Bowdoin alumni Steven Albert '88 and Cassie Jones '01.
Among the 132 pieces of art in the exhibit hangs "Candid #12," a painting by Bowdoin senior Eric Legris. Remarkably, in the midst of some lifelong artists in the exhibit, Legris has only been painting for about two years. "Mark Wethli's Painting I class sophomore year was one of the best classes I've taken here," he said, about his first real experience with painting. His first painting, like "Candid #12," was a manipulation of a candid snapshot. The manipulation became necessary because his subject's head was cropped off in the photograph, so he finished the painting by adding onto the top of her head from another photograph, which was looking in another direction. Excited by the result of this procedure, Legris says that he has been trying to recreate the ideas of that first painting in all of his subsequent works.
He began carrying around a disposable camera, taking candid pictures at parties, and creating paintings from those photographs. "I've found that in candid moments, there are spontaneous things that you don't notice in everyday life that are really interesting." The process of painting is just as spontaneous for Legris as the photographs he takes. "The reason I do things is not cognitive. It's really an intuitive process; I just trust myself."
Legris believes that the Biennial is especially important for emerging artists: "It's basically an opportunity for unknown artists to get their work into a museum. I think it's one of the most exciting things the museum does." He also says he feels honored to be on the same wall as Anne Harris, one of his idols.
As a part of the "Meet the Artists" lecture series, many of the Bowdoin artists will be speaking at the Portland Museum in the coming weeks. Both Mark Wethli and John Bisbee will lecture on Sunday, April 27, at 1:00 p.m. and Legris will be speaking on Sunday, May 4 at 1:00 p.m.
The Portland Museum of Art Biennial will be on display from April 10 through June 1.
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