For the 60th anniversary of Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, the Fuller Building at 808 Commonwealth Avenue is showing the works of 30 artists currently teaching at the University, now through March 1st.
The interior-side glass and brass double-door system brings a quiet respite from the cold, clear day lurking outside. The gallery was empty, for it was just a Tuesday right after noon. White light crept into the white-walled gallery, bleached from all the snow. My dark brown boots squeaked with sharp wetness and left dark brown water sole-marks with every step.
There was an interesting collection of artistic styles and movements at the show. The clouding theme was for these artists to explore the older media and subject matter, but to experiment with new presentations and processes.
Joshua Brennan—lecturer of printmaking—exhibited a mixed media and found object installation piece entitled Locavore No. 80 (back of the neck beards are all too common in these parts) (2014). It included objects that seemed to be art-making materials (canvases, wooden frames, paintings) thrown together with other locally found objects.
Brennan arranges and paints these objects and then photographs and prints them. Next he takes apart the installation, paints it, and arranges it again, and repeats the process. Hence, the piece is always different, just as the viewer is always different (mentally or physically) upon every viewing, and just as Brennan himself is a different man with every new awakening and arrangement.
Professor and Chair of Graphic Design at the CFA Alston W. Purvis hung a work that catches the eye of admirers of pre-World War 20th century art. He showed Collage in two parts number 14 (2014). It seemed to be made of different scraps of old paper and newspaper.
For reasons unbeknownst to me, I immediately thought of the work of Gustav Klimt. At first, the confusion of seemingly wet-then-dry paper and the muted colors, with flashes of reds and blues, struck a note with me. Perhaps it did not look like a Klimt, but brought the same feelings upon me. The Symbolist movement brought out the darker, more morbid side of human emotion. And Purvis’s work seemed to bring those emotions out for me in a way I have not experienced in a while.
There was one other person in the gallery with me. She sat at the door to gallery with her laptop at the desk intently focused on her social medium of choice. She was quiet, but in an eerie way. I expected at least some sort of welcome from her, but none came. I could understand if the gallery was full and she did not want to speak to everyone who came in, but I was the sole volunteer patron. Even when I went to the desk on my way out to grab some flyers of the artists I enjoyed, only my voice broke the glass silence of the cold walls with a soft quiet “thank you,” as to disrupt the exhibit as little as possible.
Jake Dmochowski 