UNM’s Jonson Gallery is host to art from 20 graduate art students in this year’s annual Juried Graduate Student Exhibition.
The show, which had its opening reception March 28 and runs through May 9, is one of the most diverse shows in the gallery’s nine-year history, according to Curator Chip Ware.
“I think it’s one of the best graduate art shows we’ve had at Jonson Gallery,” Ware said. “The range of mediums is very unusual.”
Blake Gibson, who received the Friends of Art prize for “Events in Nature and Painting,” captures nature among artificial objects in a perfect and disturbing way.
The painting works with three layers. First, two planks of wood meet the eye, followed by a massive amount of acrylic paint laid intentionally, yet so imprecisely, on top of a digital print of mud. The work in its entirety is like an art train wreck and you just can’t help but stare at it.
Recipient of the Florence Henri prize, David Leigh paints a perfect picture of human existence and its confusing jumbled reality. In “California,” a wall-sized oil on canvas, Leigh isn’t afraid to use color and lines in this unconventional beach painting.
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The winner of the Ana Nendieta award, Tricia O’Keefe, is away on exchange in Prague while her untitled relief print on wood is on display. The thin wood veneer that is used in this piece made printings that look like tree rings, yet is it clear that they are not.
“Tricia O’Keefe’s diminutive and carefully printed veneers further impose culture on natural materials that have already undergone structural and technological mediation,” said juror Dan Devening.
Every piece is worth visiting Jonson Gallery for. Though the gallery is small, many pieces, like Erika Adams’ photos “Dialogues” that are a close up interaction with insects, will have you wandering and observing for hours.
For those who would like to hear from some of the artists themselves, two of the three award winners will have a chance to speak about their work.
Leigh will speak April 10 at 5:30 p.m. at Jonson Gallery.
Beyond creating the art for the show, the students also constructed an in-depth catalogue featuring their art, pictures of their studios and essays by the graduate students and other artists.
The 32-page catalogue was designed by Chad Person, Megan Jacobs and Damon Sauer — all Art Studio graduate students — and printed with money raised by the artists. The catalogue itself is a beautiful piece of art worthy of being made into a book. Copies are available free in Jonson Gallery.
“This is a collaboration that you don’t find in too many art departments,” Ware said. “It’s quite wonderful and refreshing.”
Jonson Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Tuesday from 5-8 p.m.
