“Dwelling” is the exhibition being held at the C33 Gallery (33 East Congress on the first floor). The show features thirteen artists and their work. Now if one considers art to be only paintings on a wall or sculptures of marble in a hall this may not be the show for you. However, if you have a broader concept of art then this could be a show worth dropping in on.
The gallery room itself is small enough that it won’t take you half a day to go through but big enough that you can be their with a small group of people without bumping into each other. The art is set up in a U so that you can go around and look at all the pieces with ease. So it makes for a pleasant hour of being around some new pieces.
Now onto the pieces. The art focuses on simplicity, they try to say a lot with very little. Also the title of the show “Dwelling” has an importance as well. All of the pieces are connected to a kind of residence, yet the residence in question does not have to be tangible.
An example of this is Carrie Schneider’s Family Videos. One video was of her father washing her hair and the other of her trying to have her mother hold her. Neither has a tangible dwelling. Nevertheless, you can feel a kind of belonging in the videos. In “Dad washing my hair” you can see a kind of calmness in the females face. The subject has no problem with the fathers hands washing her hair. Now when one is showering they are completely exposed and not just in a physical way. There is nothing to hide behind so in this state of complete exposer the last thing most people want is another person there. However the fact that the girl is completely calm and lets the fathers hands wash her hair shows that she can be “naked” as it where and her father will care for her. In this fashion you can see the non-tangible home that the father has created for his daughter.
A tangible example of dwelling can be found with Heather Boaz’s Escape. The piece is a window hanging from the ceiling and sheets tied together to form a rope that hangs down. This piece is interesting in that the window is a darker color then the sheets. The window is a dark green and is made of wood, thus is has cracks and creases in it. The dark colors and the choice in material for the window suggests that the person is escaping from a cruel dwelling. If so then that would explain the decision in using white sheets. The white would symbolize the escaping to a brighter place. However the sheets do seem to grow a kind of yellow tint near the bottom, suggesting that the location the person escaped to is not all they hope for but still better then the previous dwelling.
These two pieces are just a taste of what you will see in the new gallery “Dwelling”. So if you are looking for different artistic takes on the concept of dwelling or just have some time, be sure to check out “Dwelling” at C33 open until September 10th.
The identification and summary of this review is really solid. I like the bits of analysis that you've brought in while summarizing, but it doesn't feel like you're pushing an opinion on us, so we can go in to the exhibition later on with an open mind. The opening and closing need some work. Especially in the opening, it's almost like saying "some people will like this, and some people won't", which is sort of the nature of opinions! Being direct with your opinions will help a lot.
ReplyDeleteOpening: Half star
Identification: Full star
Summary: Full star
Opinion: Full star
Closing: Half star
Total: 4 stars
Intro: 1/2
ReplyDeleteIdentification:*
Summary: *
Opinion: 1/2
Closing: ½
Total: ***
I liked your introduction, but the reason why I gave you half a star was because I felt like you almost scared off some of the more general audience who are not used to more abstract art. Keep it open to them, don’t warn anyone that they might not like it if it isn’t a certain style. Overall, try making your review smoother. Instead of making it a point where you verbally tell us that you are now going to critique the pieces, try using other ways to segway into your opinions. Your closing, seems sudden. Don’t tease us with a taste of the gallery, tell us more and convince us to go see what’s up at c33. Also check punctuation throughout, you miss a few apostrophes and commas here and there.
Opening 1/2 star. Felt like the opening need to grab your attention more and in some ways set the review up for a narrower audience.
ReplyDeleteIdentification Full Star. Liked all information you gave about the exhibit. Where it was, what it's called how the artists were.
Summary- Full Star. Liked how you went into the tangible and intangible pieces of art that represent dwelling. As we as the fact the the exhibit was set up in a U shape.
Opinion- 1/2 star. Like your analysis of the pieces you wrote about but never really state if you like them or not. I assume that you like them.
Closing-1/2 Star. Has some information about the exhibit in closing, but it is a bit short and does not have your overall opinion if you liked it or not.
Hi Jaclyn, I think the comments here have a lot of good insights for you to work with. Folks seemed to struggle with the opening a bit--I think that's because it deals with the layout of the show and the design of the space in a really general way instead of, say, discussing how the space and the design contribute to the overall meaning and purpose of the exhibition. If you frame the review in a bigger concept or an overall idea from the get-go, then your descriptions of individual pieces (which everyone admires) work together more clearly towards a larger argument, and readers get a lot more out of your excellent eye for detail.
ReplyDelete