An informal, tucked-away entry in UCSD’s Undergraduate Arts Fest 2007, the “”Try This on for Size”” installment puts a “”dark twist on a ‘down the rabbit hole’ theme,”” according to professor Jean Lowe, whose VIS 110F class (composed mostly of graduating studio majors) constructed the exhibit on the dungeonous bottom floor of Mandeville. An interactive, fort-like experience, the gallery entrance has been transformed into two shrinking cardboard tunnels – marked by an ambiguous entrance/exit sign – ending in hunched doorways not unlike those in Wonderland.
Once inside, we exist in a sort of tame, silent haunted house, strung in saran-wrapped geometrics, chicken-wire spiderwebs, a giant half-skull, half-face shrouded in photocopied collage and – after ducking the saran – a dead bar scene. “”It’s an installation class, so emphasis wasn’t on discreet objects or painting, but rather creating an overall environment/atmosphere,”” Lowe said. (SW)
Runs through June 1
“”Try This on for Size””
Mandeville Annex Gallery
