Have you ever seen a flock of birds fly through a window? How about a quilt weaved with hairballs? Or maybe something less out of the ordinary like pixilated Atari sex? If not, you should head over to the 2007 Biennial Art Faculty Exhibition being held at the Schmidt and Ritter art galleries on Boca Raton campus.
Gallery Director William Faulds directed the opening reception this past Friday. Out of the 22 artists featured – all of which are members of the faculty at the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters – more than half a dozen were there opening night to present their work.
Blane De St. Croix, an associate professor of visual arts and art history, explained how his work “Common Carrion” is intended to invoke dream imagery. Forty black birds frozen in flight halfway through the Schmidt Gallery windows stunningly achieve that effect.
Also at the gallery is a playful diversion into the world of 80’s video game perversion, thanks to Associate Professor of Communication Eric Freedman. His blown up screen-captures from adult Atari games are far from erotic, even though the less-than-eight-bit characters are caught in positions of fellatio, doggy, and even good-old missionary. The viewer has a slightly awkward opportunity to reflect on how much the Information Age has progressed in the past quarter-century.
The strange subconscious musings of Walter Hnatysh were standouts of the exhibition. He takes the craft of doodling to a whole new level with his nightmarish ink monsters. The Boca art professor admitted that some of his best work has been done at committee meetings – a true inspiration to all of us stuck in a boring lecture class. Take heed and make good use of that time, maybe you can be featured in an exhibition one day. When an attendee asked whether his works have any special meaning, he quipped, “I’m sure they do.” It is always refreshing to come across an artist who doesn’t take himself too seriously.
“The show looks as good if not better than any faculty exhibitions I’ve been involved with in my ten years at FAU,” Faulds said after the event. “The diversity and ingenuity of the faculty makes both the galleries look great.”
If this has whetted your intellectual appetite, stop by the Schmidt and Ritter art galleries Tuesday through Friday from 1 – 4 p.m. or on Saturdays from 1 – 5 p.m. The exhibit runs until Oct. 26 at the Schmidt Center Gallery and Nov. 10 at the Ritter Art Gallery and both are free to the public.
For more information, visit www.fau.edu/galleries or call (561) 297-2661.
