Melissa Gasia
Staff Writer
The “Pictures of Everything” exhibit, composed of various abstract paintings, will run through Oct. 30 in the Harris Gallery.
The art exhibit was inspired from Kirk Varnedoe’s Mellon Lecture Series Pictures of Nothing taken in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., back in 2003.
“Pictures of Everything” brings together a mixture of young painters and painters that are historically part of the California Hard Edge abstraction.
This unique combination gives viewers a historic yet fresh feel to the visual arts presented to them.
“It’s my responsibility to present new visual experience for people to see, and figuring out how to do that can be a bit of work, but is also this fascinating puzzle,” Dion Johnson, director of university art galleries, said.
“The conversation that these artworks have with one another is a really wonderful experience,” he said.
The exhibition spotlights a range of abstract artists put together with a range of styles to communicate with its viewers.
These works of art include 10 notable artists: Phil Argent, Karl Benjamin, Sarah Cain, Jane Callister, Frederick Hammersley, Allison Miller, Sandeep Mukherjee, Oliver Sutter, David Reed and Feodor Voronov.
“Dion has been very good about selecting those (artists), seeing how their work works together,” exhibition artist Phil Argent said.
Johnson works with different artists, galleries and foundations. He gets to select from different types of arts that are available to him, but he individually chose all of the artists for the show that he thinks are ideal based on their theme.
They all work together from there to create an exceptional exhibit to attract as many people to appreciate the works of the artists from different perspectives as possible.
“I think everyone should support the arts in general, but I think this is a real fantastic show to have on campus,” exhibition artist Jane Callister said.
Callister’s artwork has been showcased both nationally and internationally for several years.
Johnson selected Callister’s “Fire on Skunk Mountain” painting for the show, which was inspired from the wildfires in Santa Barbara, where Callister resides.
She based it from the toxic air people see on top of the mountain and used acrylic paint on canvas to demonstrate this type of atmosphere.
Visual artist David Reed’s artwork “Study After Domenico Feti’s ‘Adoring Angels’ For Las Vegas” stands out both to the attendees and the artists.
Callister said he is a “pretty big name” in New York city as he demonstrates culture in his paintings.
“It (David Reed’s painting) reminds me a lot of my culture,” said sophomore business major Victoria Walker. “I’m half-Chinese and the colors, the strokes of it just really identifies with what I’ve seen from Buddhist drawings,” she said.
The gallery is free and open Mondays through Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Melissa Gasia can be reached at melissa.gasia@laverne.edu.
