Gnomes, true to form, make short work of art

There is obviously a lot of artistic talent centered in venerable ol' Davenport. What You Make It, an exhibition featuring the work of Davenport artists, the latest in a long line of student shows in Studio 56, highlights the talents of a new crop of gnomes.

The show was the brainchild of Davenport students Vineet Dewan, DC '02, and Jessica Kung, DC '03, both of whom also contribute strong work to the exhibition. Consisting of photos, paintings, and a sculpture by current Davenport students, the exhibition—though far from perfect—is well worth a quick lunchtime visit.

COURTESY JESSICA KUNG

The major strength and weakness of Kung and Dewan's creation is its almost single-minded focus on photography. But what the exhibition lacks in diversity of media it makes up for in quality of photographic content. Dewan's use of strong, separate areas of color in his Hopperesque birds-eye photograph of a sagging, lonely boardwalk next to the gray Atlantic highlights the prosaic aesthetic of the scene. The barely visible, McDobbo's hamburger stand (copyright lawyers, have your field day) takes a subtle jab at the prevalence of American commercialism. Sandra Kister's, DC '02, bold, crisp photograph of a residential construction site in the snow is at once forlorn and powerful; the white-draped boards and pink-wrapped materials are somehow more majestic than the building they are intending to create.

Even the less moving works are delicious eye candy. Nadia Chan's, DC '03, shots of blurry bright lights and fluorescent coral are trite, but trippy. The anonymous photos on the west wall of the studio are overly glossy and dark, but still funny in that Diane Arbus kind of way. And Kung's confusing divided photo of a tangle of metal seems to vibrate colorfully—can we call it post-Op Art?

Though there are few paintings in the show, Nicholas Zamiska's, DC '04, monumental nude woman is worthy of examination. Zamiska merges an understanding of analytic Cubist techniques with a knowledge of the classical female form to create a work both poetically understated and frenetic.

Studio 56, the only residential college gallery, is, as always, a problematic venue for an exhibition. It's hot, it's bright, and if you're over six feet tall, don't even bother. The marigold mop slumping lazily in the corner of the room could be a ready-made by a Davenportian Duchamp, or the work of an absent-minded custodian. Same for the trash on the floor.

The photographs and paintings hang idly in paper frames on a dingy, pin-punctured "Yale white" wall. Yet there's something about it that recalls Warhol's factory: it's a great place to see student work.

The placard at the beginning of What You Make It—an exhibition featuring the work of Davenport artists encourages visitors to "Look closer. Squint. Roll your eyes. Say `Hmmm' and `Ahhh.'" True to form, the exhibition was full of works worthy of closer inspection (even if some just warrant a "Hmmm").

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