The Art Show

   To be completely honest, I had no idea that this was a faculty art show. I had imagined this to be some of the work of seniors and juniors. As I looked around and saw the name Stephan Leeper I thought to myself, “ohhh.” However, my enjoyment of what I saw certainly continued, if not rose. As any art show though I had a few favorites, but I loved most of what I saw.

   First up is Terrible Yellow Eyes by Bryan Ballinger done through digital photography. When I first saw this it immediately reminded me of a music video done by Flying Lotus called Putty Boy Strut. They both come off as chaotic messes, but through cartoonish design the observer takes the corn flakes with a spoonful of sugar. That way it’s accessible to everyone rather than non-art schmucks. Either way, I loved the color tone, the faces, and the overlapping. I felt like there were people around me as I was looking at it, there wasn’t.

    The next piece is W.K Hopper’s Jackson Hole Number 9 done through digital photography as well. This is a complete change up from Ballinger’s work, for this is an actual photograph. A splendid photograph of the shore of a perhaps pebble beach. Pebbles of blues and yellows were abundant. Some were just barely in the water while others were just on the outside. I felt as though those on the outside were desperately trying to reach the others in the water. It brought life to simple pebbles. How many people do you know that can do that? That alone is why this one was as awesome as it was.

    Finally, a piece from The Temptation of Brother Thomas titled Brother Thomas Makette done by the legendary Stephan Leeper! For real, I loved this piece of work. I’m not sure if I’m grasping the point here, but based on the title I would assume that this is similar to Pleasantville. Where Thomas is all religion or simplicity, thus grey, until the day that a dragonfly zooms by and he becomes infatuated with it. The dragonfly, colored, then leads him through the woods in the storyboard and he witnesses all sorts of things. I feel that this dragonfly is a temptation for Thomas, because maybe he has been sheltered due to his religion? I really don’t know for sure, but all I know is that I enjoyed the contrasting figures. To me it was the best piece there and I’m excited for the final product.