Exhibition trowels walls with undergraduate art

Ever wonder what your roommate in Basic Drawing had been working on when she got ready for bed at five in the morning, covered in charcoal? Through Fri., Jan. 21 in the main gallery of the Art and Architecture Building, one has a chance to view work from last semester's art classes. The Undergraduate Comprehensive Art Exhibition is both fruitful and frustrating, depending on what you're hoping to take away from the show. If you want names of artists, explanations of materials and assignments, or even the classes that the work came from, you'll be sorely disappointed. But if you want to see hundreds of projects ranging from seven foot constructions to stamp size sketches, this show is not to be missed. Undergraduate art is impressively alive at Yale, and one should take advantage of the opportunity to see it before it all disappears back into studios and portfolios.

ANDREW HEID/YH Artists' Anonymous just got a lot of new members. A whole lot.

The weather on Thurs., Jan. 13 was perfect for the exhibit's opening. Walking from the snowy dark night into the gallery, I was overwhelmed by the brightly lit space exploding with art. Suddenly transported into a fantastical world of objects and color, I wasn't quite sure where I should begin.

With a little help from the Blue Book I tried to unravel the origins of each collection of pieces. Some of the most quietly beautiful work came from Richard Lytle's Color class. Collages of famous artwork like Edward Hopper's Automat and van Eyck's Arnolfini Wedding Portrait had a freshness to them, reinterpreted out of different tiny pieces of different colored paper. Basic Drawing classes produced walls covered in charcoal work. Some were gesture sketches—drawings made in 60 seconds to capture the impression and form of a model—while others showed involved scenes of Yale landscapes or still-lifes. One portrait was made entirely from thumb-prints. There was some incredible computer and lay-out work from the graphic design courses—the articles, pamphlets and posters seemed professional. Even work that incorporated only typography held its ground amidst the abundant imagery. Intermediate Painting's canvases were alive with color next to the black-and-white of Photography's prints. A series of paintings incorporating mirrored self portraits was personal and powerful, but remained anonymous due to the lack of labels in the show. There was a great variety in the themed photographs of contemplative versus clever, and realistic versus abstract. Among the more interesting photos was a beautiful series of windows, three people looking through a picture frame, and a portrait of a woman drying the dishes, with a plate directly hiding her face.

Three-dimensional work also had a prominent place in the show. An arresting conceptual piece (and one of the only labeled works) was entitled Learning To Fly: Part I Model For Flight and involved a pile of sand with a fan behind it. Lee Kiang's, MC '01, plastic vest hanging from the wall looked like it was filled with pockets of glue or an opaque substance that suggested blubber. Esteban Arboleda's, SY '00, photographs of himself dressed in a white coat of his own design, standing in Beinecke Plaza were equally striking. The room of work from Introductory Sculpture was especially strong, including an interactive piece that let you put your head with the body of a grotesquely obese woman.

The show's diversity—there are collages, paintings, photographs, sculptures, constructions—might seem a bit much to absorb in one visit. It would be interesting to construct a treasure hunt with this show. Can you find the light bulb coming out of an orange? The photograph of a living room set up in a bus shelter? The sculpture of boxes with a mirror and nose inside? As I was walking out the door, a friend asked if I had seen the photography series of dolls, toys, and rubber ducks committing suicide in various ways. I hadn't, and after retracing my steps to see them, these pictures ended up being some of my favorites. It's just not possible to see everything at once, but the show's weeklong run allows time for a few return trips.

I was a little disappointed that no sign of a promised reception had appeared by the time I left halfway through the exhibit's opening. Luckily, its crowded walls offered plenty to digest.

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