{"id":157,"date":"2017-12-04T23:21:54","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T23:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/?p=157"},"modified":"2017-12-11T15:51:39","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T15:51:39","slug":"the-monsters-of-our-imagination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/2017\/12\/04\/the-monsters-of-our-imagination\/","title":{"rendered":"The Monsters of Our Imagination"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Cayla Burroughs<\/strong><\/p>\n

Valdosta State University\u2019s Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery hosted \u201cCute & Creepy,\u201d which showcased the grotesque-inspired works of seven pop surrealist and new contemporary artists. The exhibition is a recreation of the 2011 \u201cCute & Creepy\u201d exhibition that was held at Florida State\u2019s Museum of Fine Arts, which featured twenty-four artists; today it has been recreated on a smaller scale, with seven of the original artists returning to feature their work. The exhibition celebrates the idea of monsters and how they are woven into our lives and essentially become a part of us, setting out to cater to the monstrous and fantastical whimsy within our own imaginations. With its larger than life sculptural monsters in the center of the gallery, skeletal figures hanging throughout the space, and beautifully grotesque paintings and drawings\u00a0along the wall space, the exhibition\u00a0creates\u00a0a truly transformative space that enthralls the\u00a0viewer.\u00a0In its entirety, the exhibition is bold and thrilling, and is worth experiencing in person.<\/p>\n

Upon entering the gallery, the first thing I noticed was the thoughtful and effective arrangements of the paintings along the walls. Excellent measures are taken into considering the viewers\u2019 reception of each artwork, ensuring that each painting and drawing could exist in its own space without attention\u00a0being diverted away by another piece. There is\u00a0a\u00a0repetition of dark, large, and gaudy framed works like Chet Zar\u2019s oil paint on canvas entitled,\u00a0Fellowship<\/i>,\u00a0<\/i>hung beside light colored, cute, smaller-scale works like Lori Field\u2019s watercolor pencil drawing on ledger paper entitled,\u00a0Tiger Dandy & Birdie Daddy<\/i>; this rhythmic pattern breaks up the heaviness of the paintings, while emphasizing the \u201ccuteness\u201d in some and the \u201ccreepiness\u201d in others.<\/p>\n

Carrie Ann Baade is an excellent standout amongst the featured artists. As a contemporary painter, Baade revisits prominent moments in art history as the subject matter for her paintings. In her five paintings featured in the exhibition, Baade\u2019s paintings combine imagery of Renaissance and Baroque architecture and clothing with surreal landscapes inhabited by unusual figures and startling monsters.\u00a0Unspeakable<\/i>,\u00a0prominently showcases\u00a0the era of\u00a0Baade’s\u00a0interests. Upon\u00a0first glance, the\u00a0painting is of a delicate and slender woman dressed in aristocratic clothing; however, the skirt of her dress reveals the mouth of a camouflaged monster that appears to be projectile vomiting. Baade creates an interesting dialogue through her intermix of regal beauty with surreal and unsettling imagery. Baade uses the large scale of the canvas to her advantage by incorporating thick and energetic brushstrokes, communicating a firm sense of liveliness and explosive movement being projected from the monster\u2019s mouth. The bold contrast of colors is what gives the painting a unique energy that invites you to become visibly engaged in the piece.<\/p>\n

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Carrie Baade, Unspeakable, Oil on Canvas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another standout artist is Jessica Joslin, for her mixed media sculptures of animal figures. Made up of found objects, bone, brass, metals, leather, and glass, Joslin seamlessly integrates these materials into cohesive sculptures of animal- like creatures that truly seem as if they could exist outside of one\u2019s imagination. Her sculptures have a playful sensibility to them, which each having its own personality. The play between \u201ccute\u201d and \u201ccreepy\u201d is strong in her work, but feels authentic to the aesthetic. Her three pieces,\u00a0Max, Gage,\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Aster<\/i>\u00a0are composed in a way that gives the figures a context in which they could have existed. They look quite jovial, almost like circus performers, while their exposed skeleton plays to the creepy components. Overall, her sculptures are fun engaging pieces\u00a0that invite the viewer to create a story for these lively characters.<\/p>\n

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Jessica Joslin, Max, Mixed Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While most of the pieces in the exhibition were successful, the same cannot be said for artist Kelly Boehmer. Boehmer\u2019s sculptures aim to create visual narratives in regard to human nature including anxieties, who we become in relationships, and fears. Kelly Boehmer describes her sculptures:\u00a0the \u201csheer fabrics give the monsters a vulnerable facet\u2014making them both threatening and pitiful. Seductive colors and sensual textures are juxtaposed with repulsive elements such as entrails. Kitsch components are incorporated in a sincere and visceral way.\u201d Unfortunately, the sculptures are just unpleasant to look at. The danger of incorporating kitsch components into artwork that is not exclusively kitsch\u00a0is that it can come across as substandard. Her juxtaposition of sensuality with repulsiveness\u00a0is not well-received, as the repulsiveness of the sculpture is\u00a0too\u00a0prevalent.\u00a0<\/span>Arnolfini Lapdog<\/i>\u00a0is a mixed media assemblage on canvas of a taxidermized animal with its entrails exposed all throughout the canvas, surrounded by glittery soft yarn and faux fur. While her intention\u00a0<\/span>behind this piece was to \u201csoften the blow\u201d about anxieties such as death, the sculpture\u2019s meaning is overshadowed by its poor composition.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Kelly Boehmer, Arolfini Lapdog, Mixed Media on Canvas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Overall, \u201cCute & Creepy\u201d offers\u00a0a\u00a0fun\u00a0and engaging atmosphere that invites the viewer to embrace the idea of monsters and sparks the imagination to consider the role of monsters in our own lives.<\/p>\n

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Cayla Burroughs is majoring in art at Valdosta State University, and is originally from Atlanta, Georgia. Cayla Burroughs is focusing on computer animation and metalsmithing and plans to attend graduate school after graduating with her bachelor’s degree in art.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cayla Burroughs Valdosta State University\u2019s Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery hosted \u201cCute & Creepy,\u201d which showcased the grotesque-inspired works of seven pop surrealist and new contemporary artists. The exhibition is a recreation of the 2011 \u201cCute & Creepy\u201d exhibition that was held at Florida State\u2019s Museum of Fine Arts, which featured twenty-four artists; today … Continue reading The Monsters of Our Imagination<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":420,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cuteandcreepy","tag-cute-and-creepy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/420"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":303,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions\/303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}