1) The exhibition
a. The title of the exhibit is Artists/Veterans Art Collaborative: Coming home, Connecting Families.
b. The theme of the exhibit is war and veterans expressing themselves either during times of war or after they return.
2) The Gallery
a. The type of lighting to use is track lighting. There are individual lights on each work so that one can clearly see what they are looking at.
b. The walls are a plain white. This helps to make take the emphasis off of the walls and onto the works that are displayed on it.
c. The architecture of the inside of the building is made of drywall and glass. They are bland and they help to focus ones attention towards the artworks.
d. The walls and structures in the building help to funnel people in a certain direction. There are limited openings that show the person who is inside the gallery the “correct” way to walk.
3) The artwork
a. The artworks to me seem to go from abstract works to more reality based recreations. However I did see some exceptions while I was walking around.
b. The artworks are similar in that they are about the same size and have similar colors.
c. All of the artworks though have different frames or borders. Also there are multiple artists with different styles.
d. Most of the artworks are framed almost like any household picture some even protected by glass.
e. The artworks are labeled by artist, title, material used, who or where the work came from, and the background of the work. Some works have all of these labels and some have only a few.
f. Most of the artworks are located close to each other but not too close to overshadow one another. I would say that most of the works are about three feet apart and at eye level.
4) Art criticism exercise
a. The first artwork I chose to describe is Untitled. This work was created by James Becker in 1994 and is of charcoal and chalk on toned paper. The description provided stated that it is attempting to deconstruct gender roles and vulnerability. This work shows a male who is unclothed but still has firearms near him. His head is hanging and there are several people around him. The lighting of the picture emphasizes the male in the center of the work with the background being darker. The men in the background are standing in trench coats perhaps to symbolize high ranking government people overseeing this man. I feel that that the artist was trying to say that some of the military people even though they are given guns they feel exposed and are over seen by the government but that there is nothing that they can do to defend themselves.
b. The next artwork that I chose to describe is Mournful Partings. This work is by Sam Sacco and was made in 2011. This work is made from black and white photograph on metallic paper. This work shows a man with his head hanging low sitting near his dog. The lighting in the photograph emphasizes the person and the dog and their emotions. I did notice that the dog showed was a boxer perhaps showing how the military must fight all the time. I believe that this work is saying that leaving for war hurts everyone equally human or not.
c. The last work that I chose to use was from James Becker titled Shatt. This work was created in 2011 and is of oil on canvas. This work shows a male smoking in his military gear while there is a war going on behind him. There seems to be an emphasis on the man’s emotion. I did notice that there was a flower in the man’s helmet perhaps showing that he is thinking only of peace. I feel that this work is showing that war goes on even if someone’s mind is somewhere else but ultimately they must keep going.
5) I feel that this art gallery was very interesting to visit. The building was very clean and seemed very updated. There was almost no one there when I went the only person I really saw was a person asking why I was taking notes at the Exhibit. After speaking with this party, who was a person who helped to get the exhibit at the gallery, I found out that they really like to have notes or messages left for the people who created the work because they love the feedback. Looking at the gallery in a physical perspective is quite different than looking solely at the works themselves. I found this trip more enjoyable than my last actually. There were several signs stating no photography permitted which I also agree with. I was unable to find any photo's of the artwork that I chose to describe the only photo that I have to put in here is a flyer that I picked up near the exhibit.
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