It’s hard to imagine a world where lumpy stuffed animals are
grouped with leopard-clad karaoke singers, but UCSD’s latest Master of Fine
Arts exhibition manages to cram an otherwise incohesive body of media into one
cleanly lit space at the center of campus. Yes, we have an art gallery again —
and while many pieces are worthy of a walk-by (hey, it’s free), the overall
intrigue of its innards is muddled by the program’s poorly conceived effort in
textually or spatially unifying such thematically disparate works. While
there’s something to be said for art left open to interpretation, the gallery’s
lack of supplementary context (save the artists’ names) often renders the
viewer more mystified than moved.
Take, for instance, Evelyn Donnelly’s “When Will I See You
Again.” At first glance, we see only an amorphous, blue furry cross between a
Sesame Street character and alien spawn, its two construction-paper eyes
lending a troubled stare in hastily glued afterthought. At the show’s opening,
Donnelly was available to inform puzzled observers that the unmarked arctic
collage hanging three feet away was actually the backdrop to her polyester
creation, a crucial supplement that is easily overlooked. Although the artist
remained enigmatic in her explanation (is it a representation of “Grizzly Man”?
A fear of the unknown? A statement on global warming? Not even she seemed to
know.), it’s an oversight that could be avoided with the inclusion of a simple
wall label.
Steven Rubens’ series — “Watching, Waiting (I, II, and III)”
— was less baffling, but still much-enhanced by an artist’s personal
explanation. With a heavy background in photojournalism, Rubens related his
images of Iraqi refugees — frozen in the anonymity of grainy news photos — to
the lack of war exposure in the media, and the nation’s collective ignorance.
With this information, the haunting clarity of the refugees’ gaze became
instantly more relevant and arresting — but instead, many uninformed passersby
left unaffected.
They were most likely waiting to see Emiko Lewis-Sanchez (or
“Dr. Niku”) perform in the newest installment of her pop culture “cocoons,”
pink neon closet spaces in which she recreates the evolution of celebrity
identity through mechanized lip-synch (this time, to Eurythmics’ “Sweet
Dreams”). As Lewis-Sanchez emerged — sporting animal prints, a flashy cowboy
hat and robotic gaze — one couldn’t help but wonder if her piece would preserve
the same aura after opening night, left alone as an empty flashing box.
A few works managed to succeed without explanation:
Documentary “Maquilapolis,” traces the lives of women working in Tijuana’s
assembly factories (or maquiladoras), and Caleb Waldorf’s architecturally
playful photo collage “Tower 4 (C-Print)” depicts hundreds of tiny buildings
repeated in neutral tone strata. Whether or not you understand the rest, our
very own University Art Gallery is a convenient stop en route to Hi Thai, so
make sure to take a quick detour — the show lasts until Nov. 18.