Life > November 3, 2005

By Whitney Tritt

Old Gold & Black Reviewer

A series of large canvases, detailed patterns and intriguing sculptures currently cover the white walls in a Scales gallery.

”Mixed Meanings, Hidden Messages,” an art exhibition that will be on display in the Charlotte and Phillip Hanes Art Gallery through Nov. 15, has pieces that are worth seeing because of the stimulating concepts they present.

The show is built around the five pieces acquired on the Student Union art-buying trip to New York City last spring.

These pieces, all composed of various mediums and subject matters, include photographs by James Casabere and Collier Schorr, prints by Beatriz Milhazes and Yun-Fei Ji and a painting by Carroll Dunham.

The works are all connected under the idea that seemingly simple works can in reality be very complex and difficult to understand.

As the exhibition brochure written by curator Paul Bright explains, “The most successful artworks still maintain a degree of ambiguity and elusiveness.

Beyond the intentions of the artist and the probing of critics, something remains in a created image or object that is ineffable and immune to efforts to render it entirely comprehensible.”

The show chose pieces that fit with this theme, including 17 pieces purchased on past Student Union buying trips, five pieces from the General Collection of Wake Forest and nine pieces from the Student Art Collection.

Junior Mitchell Anderson, whose piece “Self-Portrait as Paris Hilton’s First Mirrored Tray,” makes an appearance in the show, is one of two current students with work displayed.

Anderson said, “The inclusion of student art hung next to super-stars of the art world is an honor and a good thing.”

The gallery, which is two levels, displays more pattern-based pieces on the first floor, while the second floor is entirely consumed with body-centered images.

The art was compelling and, as the name of the show suggests, often complicated and ambiguous even upon receiving more background information on the work.

A few pieces really made an impression. The first was a student piece entitled “Bible Study” by Craig Moyer, in which a Bible was still bound yet the pages where cut and curled upon each other.

Another interesting piece was one called “Escalante Warm Up” by Fred Tomaselli, in which various drugs were used along with acrylic to create an intricate design.

On the second floor, an untitled piece was done by artist Kiki Smith, who took a bronze impression of her teeth, lips and tongue and arranged them to create a shape which only resembled a mouth when looking into a mirror at the base of the work.

A piece from a photography study by Julie Moos called “Friends and Enemies Series” was also interesting.

This picture, which portrayed two teenage girls, was done in a study in which the artist took pictures of a random selection of people who were either best friends or total enemies. 

The enigma of the piece lies in the fact that the observers are never informed as to which these the two girls are.

Instead, the question is left unresolved and up for observer’s interpretation.

The show opened Oct. 13, following an appearance and lecture by James Casebere, whose photograph is included amongst the five most recent pieces of the collection. His piece is particularly striking.

He is known for his technique of flooding small models of buildings, photographing them and blowing up the images in order to distort reality.

The five most recent pieces in the Student Union art collection will be hung permanently in locations around campus following the conclusion of the show.The gallery is open from 12-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1-5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.