On April 2, the Tufts University permanent collection was taken down to make way for a new collection - the Masters' thesis projects of several students in the MFA/Tufts joint degree program. The exhibit, which will remain open during regular Aidekman hours until May 1, includes a nook and cranny to house each student's design, and is sprawled among the two floors of the Tisch family and Koppleman galleries.
The exhibit includes new artwork and photography from MA degree candidates Steve Aishman, James Blanco, Margaret Jannino, Hiroko Kikuchi, Lisa Magnarelli, Lazaro Montano, Amy Sharp, and Youngsuk Suh. Each exhibit offers the artists' unique interpretations of various ideas, including sexuality, hunger, thirst, inclusion, immersion, and death; they are far from the classical concept of "art."
Like most modern art, the exhibit is easy to either love or hate, inciting disgust or intrigue. The different topics explored are explained by each artist in a note next that accompanies the artwork. Comments are encouraged on a notepad next to the comment book, but in most of the notebooks, there is precious little written.
The lack of commentary can be attributed to one of the largest problems that the Tufts art gallery faces- few students actually know it exists. Due to Tufts' close proximity to the MFA, most students consider the artwork of fellow Tuftonians sub-par - it is not. Each exhibit is filled with profound thought and expression. Whether it is to look at the artwork of friends or to merely see how some students interpret "art," the gallery is definitely worth a visit.
In the current exhibit, visitors to the Aidekman gallery are warned by placards that the art they are about to witness may be offensive - and that is certainly true of some exhibits. Magnarelli's section includes two portraits of female figures, and three large panoramas filled with the tops of women's erect-nippled breasts. A nearby projector shows a woman stripping off her clothing to make love with one of the portraits. The exhibit is at both times shocking and stark, repulsing some and captivating others, but it is intriguing to all.
Montano's art features strong social commentary in the form of direct messages embroidered onto plain white shirts and all the possible shades of Cover Girl foundation make-up plastered against wooden planks. There is also a wall tiled with representations of a pornography production studio's 936 top gay porn stars' hair colors, in alphabetical order.
Kikuchi's art features oriental paper screens made of thinly cut foods, surrounding nine live nude actors, eating from nine tables on the floor. The piece is a commentary on modern preconceptions of dietary habits and body images.
Jannino also discusses food, with a wall of button candy (feel free to try some) and fruits and vegetables wearing knit hats, forming a message about childhood ideals alongside squares of Crayola crayon tips stuck to the walls in various patterns and colors.
Sharp's "Thirst" exhibit features aquariums filled with both water and water bottles, and video monitors showing images of fountains and water droplets. Some viewers, of course, will not see Jannino's exhibit as relating to childhood, but perhaps as relating to structure and conformity. Like all modern art, each exhibit is open to the viewer's free interpretation.
The final three exhibits are devoted to new forms of art. Suh's photography is filled with wide landscapes, showcasing lush forests and barren plains, and shot from such angles that they seem to draw in the viewer, including him in the landscape. Blanco's art is a series of five monitors and headsets, flashing various sounds and images from five late 19th century silent war documentaries. Aishman's photography is more traditional, and is a series of rather poignant photos of his father being treated for prostate cancer. It includes several images of masculinity, including hunting and woodcrafting, as well as pages of commentary on the different situations from the artist.
Overall, with many different forms of modern art and many different ideas from several artists, the casual visitor will be met with enough thought-provoking matter to last at least a month. The low levels of publicity that the Aidekman art galleries receive should definitely be remedied, and this intriguing series of exhibits provides the perfect opportunity for students to finally visit.
