By Erica Thrift
The Dedo Maranville Art Gallery is a small quaint gallery in the Fine Arts building of Valdosta State University in Valdosta, GA. Each year they host the Valdosta National Exhibition where artists from all over the country submit their work to be judged by a reputable judge not associated with the college. The small quaintness of the gallery gives the viewer a very intimate atmosphere, helping the viewer to connect with the artwork. Artwork mediums range from sculptures to photography to charcoal to oil to an augmented reality print requiring the viewer to download an app to fully experience the piece. The beauty of this exhibition is the variety of artistic influences among the artists. One can enjoy a little dash of Expressionism, a pinch of Impressionism and maybe a sprinkle of Surrealism and Dadaism as well as mixing in social, political and sexual interpretations, creating a soup of post-modern pluralism.
Visiting the gallery with classmates, and with my eleven year-old son on another occasion, made for two difference experiences. Art students react to artworks with educational enthusiasm while an eleven year-old, who fancies himself an artist, reacts with bewildered innocence to some pieces and child-like admiration for other artworks. Art students desperately attempt to apply their new knowledge from art history, survey and art criticism classes to understanding and appreciating the art. An eleven year-old uses the old-fashioned black and white viewpoint asking, “Why is this art and how did it receive an award while this piece of art did not?”
Ramayana Baba’s ceramic sculpture titled Conveyor of Justice caught the eleven year-old’s attention almost immediately. He was in awe of the craftsmanship and felt the pastel colors made it feel like a toy that he had to fight the urge not to touch. The oxymoron of the colors and the social justice of the piece earned Baba an eleven year-old fan, and the art students were impressed with the social justice context as well as the formal elements.
Baba eloquently expresses the issues of the unjust justice system and how too many men of color are unjustly incarcerated. Men dressed in everyday casual clothing are on a conveyor belt moving through an industrialized machine to come out in khaki prison uniforms. While the art students were focused on the political context the artwork is portraying to the viewer, the eleven year-old is focused on the artist’s process and aesthetics of the artwork with a sense of admiration for the time, effort and skill needed to produce this sculpture.
I almost missed the augmented artwork due to the ring-around-the-rosy layout of the partition walls so I am sure this piece, by digital artist Lathan Mastellar, was missed by other viewers, not getting the attention it deserved. Mastellar’s spin on Leonardo’s Salvador Mundi, titled Salvador Mundi AR, will probably never sell for millions of dollars like Leonardo’s famous piece recently did, but it does offer an experience that will make the viewer smile.
It is a digital collage of geometric shapes, and many different spiritual symbols and images from different religions infused together in psychedelic colors, like a poster from the 70’s that should be hanging on the wall of a dorm room with lava lamps and kids smoking weed or tripping on acid. The app solidifies the 70’s psychedelic acid trip when the viewer’s phone is held in front of the artwork and psychedelic Jesus becomes Mona Lisa Jesus. It is a print of Leonardo’s Salvador Mundi, his famous depiction of Jesus in a Renaissance dress. I feel Leonardo incorporated some Mona Lisa traits in that artwork. While some of the art students found Mastellar’s experience a moment of fun but were not impressed, the eleven year-old concluded it was super amazing and is now looking at augmented reality prints online for fun.
Wander Ball received an honorable mention for his sculpture titled Pink Bondage Vase II. A small vase is altered with light pink paint and dark floral fabric. The fabric is made into a bondage harness seen in sexual explorations such as BDSM and placed around the pink vase. Ball seems to be inspired by Duchamp’s “ready-made” art. Pink Bondage Vase II represents sexuality within the realms of domesticity in hopes to normalize the traditional with what society considers non-traditional sexual relationships within the home. The eleven year-old did not understand why a pink vase with a weird harness received an honorable mention while the first artwork the viewers notice when entering the gallery, a large oil on canvas titled Night Lights (Mind) by Timothy Short of Columbus, Ga, did not. This continuous narrative painting vibrantly depicts a woman’s battle with insomnia, giving it the dreamlike feel of Surrealism. The eleven year-old commented on the almost life-like emotional distress on the woman’s face as she wanders aimlessly within different parts of the home trying to find a way to fall asleep. He felt the color, technique, talent and time invested in Short’s artwork earned this piece at least an honorable mention.
Valerie Aranda’s Caminos/Paths (Peublito Mosconi) is a large acrylic painting on canvas. The majority of the canvas is painted green with areas of texture. Aranda depicts smaller sized people and dogs and birds indigenous to a Latin community in almost zig zag pattern from the bottom to the top of the canvas. In English, Caminos means roads or path. Peublito and Mosconi are small towns or villages in Argentina. The animals and locals are making their way from Peublito to Mosconi. Some are individuals walking or riding a bike and/or moped; some are families, and/or mother and child happily strolling down the path from one village to the next. At the bottom right of the canvas is a peacock. Wild peacocks along with chickens, dogs and other animals roam freely in that area and they are depicted roaming freely and happily within Aranda’s artwork. Aranda does an amazing job conveying a beautiful, happy cultural community enjoying life. The arts students were not fond of the three fabric flowers she placed within the composition. The three-dimensional arts and craft flowers create some imbalance to the well-balanced composition of subject matter. According to one student, the artist used the flowers because her students gave them to her so it may be safe to assume the flowers are an after-thought for personal nostalgia and not carefully executed within the composition. The piece is beautiful with or without the flowers, nor do the flowers take away from the feeling of community within the artwork. The art students compared Aranda’s work to other historical artists like George Seurat while the eleven year-old enjoyed the nostalgia of something that reminded him of a children’s book illustration. He felt a story should be told with it.
Overall, the Valdosta National is a success with artists showcasing the beautiful art of today’s time while taking you down the influential artist of yesteryear. While viewing an art gallery with students eager to interpret and understand the art, viewing one with an opinionated eleven year-old is highly recommended, if only for the funny commentary
Erica Thrift is a Bachelor of Arts major studying at Valdosta State University.