A simple subjective experience
By Katherine Sweetman
“The Visual Arts Department at UC San Diego encourages experimentation, innovation and risk-taking in scholarly and artistic production. We provide a unique environment for learning and research that crosses the boundaries between history, theory, and practice in the visual arts.”
– from Vis Arts website
Last Saturday the top graduate art program in San Diego opened its doors and gave the public a glimpse into the world of the MFA Visual Arts’ program. Coinciding with the Open Studios event was the department’s annual PhD conference, this year titled New Institutions, and a gallery exhibition with the same name curated by Lara Bullock, Sascha Crasnow and Elmira Mohebaali. From roughly 1-7pm a steady stream of (mainly) “arts insiders” mingled through the Visual Arts Facility on the UCSD Campus that houses the individual studios of the graduate students. Brave guests also ventured into the conference, held in the very-black Black Box theater next to the gallery, where panels and keynote speakers discuss topics like contemporary art and the constructs of Art Institutions.
By the Marcuse gallery’s entrance, the first piece to catch the public off guard was this one by Joe Yorty and John Brady:
The concept, explained on the interior gallery wall along with a video projection, spoke of the performative and labor intensive collection of the objects. The mattresses, couches and pillows piled onto this trailer were collected, one by one, from streets and alleyways of San Diego, and the overloaded trailer is imitates the familiar (to this region) over-stuffed trailers traveling from San Diego to Tijuana. This trailer however, ended up traveling to La Jolla (in some respects an antithesis of Tijuana), to be put on display as a single art object. While pausing to take a few photographs, I overheard viewers discussing subjects such as American wastefulness, bed bugs, and “Is This Art?”.
Another attention-grabbing project in the Marcuse Gallery was a video segment by artist Frankie Martin. The project became more appealing, to me, as I learned the piece in the gallery was a smaller segment of a larger video project titled: WE ARE WILD DOGS WITH TURQUOISE FUR LAUGHING AT FULL MOONS (vimeo trailer here).
From website: “This movie is an exploration of the meaning of/desire for context while at the same time creating a context for fellow artists and musicians by including their work in the video. In this way, the project is largely a curated exhibition. Participating artists include; Frankie Martin, Brianna Rigg, Berglind Tomasdottir, Aquapuke, Emily Sevier, Adrienne Garbini, S4E, Extreme Animals, Narwhalz, MEN, Bob Pierzack and Juiceboxxx.”
The Artist’s studio was dressed up for scenes of her in-progress video. Pictured below is Tattoo Parlor backdrop.