SVSU Art Faculty Exhibit- Rebecca Zeiss

Rebecca Zeiss

Resonance of The Machinist, Untitled VI

Ultraviolet Printing Ink on Brushed Aluminum

2012

Professor Rebecca Zeiss’s piece Resonance of The Machinist, Untitled VI focuses on a single key still in its lock, and in the background a workbench. The image overall has an almost purplish tint that adds to the depth and tonal values of the image. In her piece, Zeiss creates layers of depth starting with the key and then to the bottom of the image to the layers of tools and equipment. The image is also large scale, as it invites the viewer in with it’s brushed aluminum shiny surface that reflects light, much like early daguerreotypes when photography first began.

As part of the faculty show Zeiss and the other faculty members were asked to prepare an artist statement to not only add to the meaning of their work but to also help students understand their process and perspective.

In her artist statement, Zeiss writes,

We all have expectations of what things should look like and we assume the camera will render to use those expectations. While one would consider camera optics to be revealing, they also may be used as a device of concealment. It is through the use of these optical choices that allow my work to present shifting visual illusions and allusions. This created incongruous space gives a sense of permitting real time and remembered time to cross paths. 

Through these trace images of objects which reference their culturally assigned historical context and draw from the aura of these remembered archetypes; we collectively understand, assign signifiers, and assemble the narratives to this investigation of cultural expectations and domestic space.

 Overall, the image has a feeling of antiquity much like the rest of Zeiss’s images in the SVSU Art Faculty Exhibit. To see more of Zeiss’s work including it’s sister piece, Resonance of The Machinist, Untitled II and Solicitor, please stop in and see the show continuing until February 7^th.

Alison Bur

Gallery Assistant

University Art Gallery

Saginaw Valley State University

SVSU Art Faculty Exhibit: Work by Professor Shaun Bangert

Concubine, Courtesans, Call Girls & Madams: A History of Sex Work, by Shaun Bangert

The Saginaw Valley State University Art Faculty Exhibit gives students of the art department the opportunity to experience the artwork of their professors and instructors, and showcases the wide variety of talent amongst the art faculty.  Painting, photography, ceramic, and digital media are all included in the exhibit, as well as a historical installation by Professor Shaun Bangert. However, the historical topic may not be what students expect. Bangert’s installation highlights the history of prostitution.

Titled Concubines, Courtesans, Call Girls & Madams: A History of Sex Work, the installation is made of hanging and rotating images of famous women of these titles. On the reverse of these images is information on who these women were, when they lived, and what they were famous for. The depictions vary from painted portraiture to modern photography, and convey the ‘world’s oldest profession’ through varying attitudes “depending on the culture, religious beliefs, and social conditions of the time.” In the center of the rotating images and attached to the gallery wall is a small red box with a slit in it, inviting viewers to an up-close peep show.

The purpose of the installations is not to promote prostitution, says Bangert, “but to illustrate the range of the profession, and question whether the criminalization of such an age-old occupation should, or can, be eradicated.”

The SVSU Art Faculty Exhibit will be on display until February 7th. For gallery hours visit the SVSU University Art Gallery webpage at svsu.edu/artgallery.




Amy Gibas
Gallery Assistant
University Art Gallery
Saginaw Valley State University

Myles Roznowski- Myles in Yellow And Red-Violet, A Self-Portrait

Myles Roznowski

Myles In Yellow And Red-Violet, A Self- Portrait

Intro to Painting

Acrylic on Canvas

Fall, 2013

Current BFA Applicant

 If you’ve met Myles Roznowski then you already know that he is the artist of this portrait. The resemblance is stunning, right down to his signature smile. What initially draws the viewer to this piece is Roznowski’s use of yellow and red violet. The colors together create a feeling of warmth that spreads over the whole canvas. When asked about his work, Roznowski said, “I tried not to use tints or shades of either the yellow or red violet because it would've taken away from the very saturated look I was going for. So instead, I would add more orange to the yellow or more blue to the violet for the shadows and leave the two colors in their natural state for the highlights. I did end up having to use a little white for the extreme highlights though.” This technique is apparent in Roznowski’s piece by the effective shadows and highlights he creates that define the face and neck.

Paying careful attention to human anatomy, Roznowski captures the bone structure of the skeleton underneath the skin. Creating the image of his face and upper body in perfect proportion. For this piece, Roznowski also creates a central composition, with horizontal bands of color as the background. The composition is also weighted more towards the bottom of the canvas, but the eye is drawn upward from the face to the thick red violet horizontal bands near the top. Roznowski’s gaze is direct on the viewer, he smiles slightly, just enough so that the viewer doesn’t look away.

Ellsworth Kelly, LACMA Exhibition, 2012

When asked about his choice of background, Roznowski replied that because there were no requirements for the background, he chose a geometric approach. He continues to say that geometric designs are appealing to him, and it is apparent that he incorporates them into his work. Roznowski also adds interest to the background by using a variety of thickness when creating the bands of color. Creating less negative space between the bands at the bottom and more towards the top. The background also remains somewhat ambiguous, like the works of hard edge painters, there is almost no distinction between foreground and background. The bands of color also meet with sharp, precise lines, much like the works of Ellsworth Kelley and other Hard Edge Painters.  Overall, the painting gives you a feeling for Roznowski, warm, precise, and cheerful, a true self-portrait. 

Alison Bur

Gallery Assistant

University Art Gallery

Saginaw Valley State University

Miles Nitz- The Ascension

Miles Nitz

The Ascension
Wood, fabric, metal brackets, screws and wood glue

Intro to Sculpture

Fall, 2013

Current Bachelor of Art Student

Nitz’s piece The Ascension stands a little over 5ft tall in the lobby of Arbury Fine Arts, clearly visible with its sleek and modern design. Giving the piece stability is its wooden frame that is completely made of stained wood, screws, and metal brackets.

Creating a contrast to the stable looking frame, are the open holes and the holes covered in fabric. Based off the work by Zaha Hadid, Nitz was interested in her angular and sleek architectural designs. Inspired by her conceptual design for the Preforming Arts Center in Abu Dhabi, Nitz abstracted her work into sharp angles and triangles, creating an abstract piece that conveys the initial feeling of Hadid’s designs. 

Zaha Hadid, Abu Dhabi

As part of the project assigned Nitz was instructed to use an element of transparency. By covering some of the holes with fabric Nitz has accomplished a sense of movement that invites the viewer to walk around the piece. Encouraging the viewer to experience each side and move their eyes through the open holes. Overall, Nitz has given his piece a duel sense of stability and transparency with his choice of materials, and a sleek and modern design much like Hadid.

Alison Bur

Gallery Assistant

University Art Gallery

Saginaw Valley State University

Jon Elliott: Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting

Left to Right: Pistola, Favorite Things Series, Superior, and Battle Axe, Favorite Things Series by Jon Elliott

While Jon Elliott’s concentration is in painting, his works spans many forms and mediums. His Favorite Things series, featuring fragmented and distorted images of pin-up girls, is created digitally before being printed onto canvas. Using appropriated images, Elliott combines sexually charged images of pin-up girls with masculine weapons such as machine guns or axes. His compositions have an “all-over” sense, which keeps the viewers’ eyes from settling on one focal point. This also creates an intricate sense of depth and layering throughout the surface of the piece.

Also showcasing Elliott’s ability to work in a variety of materials is his mixed media photograph sculpture Superior. Using a large amount of small photographs, about 4 by 6 inches, Elliott recreates a landscape by suspending the photographs from the ceiling via fishing line. Different views of the same location, which has personal significance to the artist, create a single composition by layering the photos at different depths and heights. Hanging beneath the photos to anchor them are rocks and pebbles from the featured location. The hanging rocks echo the closest point to the viewer in the photographs, incorporating function with design and creating a floor to ceiling installation.

B2S2 and Weird Fishes from Back to School Series by Jon Elliott. 

Elliott’s exhibit also features a more traditional concept of painting with his Back to School series, which all share the slightly abstracted form of hammerhead sharks. His oil painting B2S2 features a range of colored squares from bright orange and yellows to deep green and blues as a background for the creatures, while the larger Weird Fishes has the bright orange forms swimming across a blue-green cityscape.

Jon Elliott is graduating at the end of the semester with his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing. His work, along with the other three graduates of the BFA program, will be on display until December 13th, with a reception on December 5th from 4:30 to 7:30 pm.


Amy Gibas
Gallery Assistant
University Art Gallery
Saginaw valley State University

Samuel Dantuma: Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting

Left to right: Vertical vs Horizontal, Zig-Zag, and Star
Samuel Dantuma

Stepping far beyond the traditional concepts of painting, Samuel Dantuma’s Bachelor of Fine Arts exhibit features a series of compositions created with cut and reconstructed fragments of wood. By utilizing the condition of the wood as it was found, Dantuma creates a variation of edge relationships using natural tones and textures.

During his collage-like process, Dantuma uses traditional techniques of illusionism, normally used in drawing, to create illusion in his own work. According to Dantuma, techniques like hatching are used to create a “gradual transition between planes by having staggered or broken edges of wood.” This type of edge also allows for his work to become integrated with the wall, by creating the illusion a soft edge and less visual distance between the object and the wall.  This contrast of edges can be seen in the piece Zig-Zag, where Dantuma uses both a staggered and solid edge to create a varied relationship to the wall and an illusion of depth.

Zig-Zag and Composition 3 by Samuel Dantuma

Depth is also created within the images through the use of paraline or isometric perspective. According to the artist, the use of parallel diagonal lines implies depth, but unlike traditional perspective, the lines never converge to a vantage point, leaving ambiguous space. In the piece Star, the parallel diagonals are interrupted and continued by a section of lines in the opposite direction, suggesting a continuation of the same shape and an implied sense of depth.

Incorporating the space surrounding the piece of artwork is an important concept behind Dantuma’s work. While many pieces incorporate the surrounding wall into the composition, like Vertical vs Horizontal, others break away from the wall completely. Composition 3, a tall and slender piece, simply leans against a pillar, while Trip-dik is a freestanding structure.

Also included in Dantuma's exhibit is a self-produced mini documentary featuring the artist discussing his own work. This video has been made available by the artist to view at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy9c2HwPk04. 

Samuel Dantuma is graduating at the end of the semester with his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing. His work, along with the three other graduates of the BFA program, will be on display until December 13th, with a reception on December 5th from 4:30 to 7 pm.


 

Amy Gibas
Gallery Assistant
University Art Gallery
Saginaw Valley State University