Kael Matias
Staff Writer
The Harris Gallery is presenting a new group exhibition titled “Asymmetrical Orbits,” which features three-dimensional art pieces by Linda Nguyen Lopez, Jon Pylypchuk, Nicolas Shake, Vincent Tomczyk and Connie Martin Trevino.
The opening reception took place Feb. 7 at the Harris Gallery in the Landis Academic Center. Gallery visitors saw pieces from wall-mounted sculptures to realistic chairs made of paper and cardboard.
“It is somewhere between both serious and playful,” Tomczyk said. “Opposite ends of the spectrum.”
Tomczyk further describes the pieces as visually interesting. In the reception handouts, Lopez’s work was described as having a “playful attitude like a stylish Muppet hairdo.” Laryssa Lahn, a senior art major, was amazed at the materials used to create certain sculptures.
“I wanted to bring something that shows the power of, sort of small, intimate things and well-crafted things,” Dion Johnson, director and curator of the Harris Gallery, said. “The pieces in the exhibition visibly look intricate and well-crafted.”
Johnson wanted this show to be sculptural and have three-dimensional work.
“The effects you can get with ceramics, the effects of texture, even the fact that one is balanced on these tiny little ceramic fronds,” Jon Leaver, professor of art history, said, describing “Fantasia” by Trevino.
“Fantasia” is a ceramic artwork that stands on spikes and is held up by just three of the many spikes on the piece.
“Sherbet Ombre Dust Furry with Gold Rocks” by Lopez looks like an alien, furry luxury purse. The porcelain sculpture has an interesting texture and seems to have a sense of movement despite being an inanimate object.
“Something about it is so alluring and the shape, and the way the color was done on it,” Hayley Perez, senior studio art major, said.
Pylypchuk’s sculpture, “Pressure These Worlds to Collide,” seems to be from another world. The sculpture is made of polyurethane, rubber, acrylic, wood and foam, according to the handout, but looks like a pet from an alien planet. Both pieces from Pylypchuk are abstract art that looks to be from a child’s wild imagination.
“I think (the exhibition is) very impressive, especially, what they’re making the sculptures out of. Like this, I thought it was leather,” Lahn said.
She was referring to Tomczyk’s “Richard (Leg Brace)”, which was a set of shoes with a metal leg brace. At first glance, one may think that the art piece was just shoes with a leg brace. Most of the sculpture is made of cardboard and paper.
All four art pieces presented by Tomczyk are everyday items like chairs and shoes made of materials not obvious to the naked eye. “Richard (Leg Brace)” was about his father, who contracted polio at a young age.
“It is a replica from memory of my experience shining his shoes, but not only that, being a son of a man that was disabled,” Tomczyk said. “There’s a lot in these pieces. I don’t simply make the piece to replicate it. It has to be an intense, either a story or some kind of biography or representation or culmination, trying to tell a story or representation of a story.”
“Asymmetrical Orbits” will remain in exhibition until March 23. The Harris Gallery is open with free admission from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday or by appointment.
Kael Matias can be reached at kael.matias@laverne.edu.
Kael Matias is a staff writer for the Campus Times.
Casi Martinez, a senior photography major, is a staff photographer for the Campus Times and photography editor of La Verne Magazine.
