Photo-Rama @ College of Visual Arts Gallery
Tuesday 29 October @ 16:57:13 |
 by Jenny Assef
Students of the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul don’t look below the surface. They look at it—very closely. The photographs featured in Photo-Rama: An Exhibition by CVA Students and Alumni reveal a near obsession with various aspects of surface: texture, capacity for reflection, and how surfaces change over time.
In “Clean” and “Dirty,” Elisha Iverson focuses so closely on a pair of feet that the striations on the underside of her subject’s big toe can be seen. Other photographs capture the details of texture and decay present in brick walkways or the walls of old buildings. Sean Mooney’s “Untitled” brings us an up-close look at graffiti giving way to rust, with clusters of red spots opening up like blooms. With a similar sense of intimacy, Justin Jackson’s “Ketchup” captures catsup draped over fries so lavishly it’s almost embarrassing.
These photographs are vivid enough to confuse the senses—the experience of viewing them is equal parts visual and tactile. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Steve Stenzel’s “Kitchen, Minnesota Lake,” and “Kitchen, Janesville, MN,” both part of his “abandoned farmhouse series,” which features rooms in extreme states of disrepair. Here, the doors are missing or broken through. Old sinks and appliances sit steeped in rust. The skeletons of overstuffed chairs are strewn about. But the walls, alive with peeling, corroded paint, are what tempt us. We can imagine running our hands down each bumpy, puckered surface. We know how the paint would flake off with each touch.
I told him not to hold his breath by Heidi Prenevost
Heidi Prenevost’s “I told him not to hold his breath” appeals to the tactile center of the imagination as well. We can guess how uncomfortable the subject must be, covered in blue paint, sitting tentatively at the edge of a couch. Up close, we can see brush marks and cracks where the paint has dried. Just looking is enough to make us itch.
Photo-Rama runs through Nov. 15. College of Visual Arts Gallery, 173 Western Ave (at Selby) in St. Paul. Hours: Tue., Wed., Fri. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Thu., 2 p.m. - 7 p.m. 651-332-1011.
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