Critiques - January 28th, 2011

It is evident that the artists in this year's thesis exhibition are moving forward and progressing with their individual works. We are all growing as artists that are concerned with different themes and use different mediums to portray those ideas. It is very interesting however, the ways in which those ideas that seem so separate are actually so starkly related. Although I have never seen Ilana Cloud's works before, I could almost see a direct correlation between hers and my own. Her paintings draw on ideas of history in order to explain some of the present. She uses a primitive style of painting in which she is very abstract, as well as uses mark making in terms of quick signatures and small quotes that may or may not make sense to the viewer. Ilana makes an effort in her pieces to incorporate different cultures of the world into her works, which is evident through different color uses and an attempt to incorporate different font styles on her paintings. Her work is very aesthetically pleasing although somewhat random. 


Princess Belton's paintings have evolved very much since last semester. In the past she has contemplated using sculptural accents in combination with her paintings to portray a deeper conceptual message regarding the styling (primarily straightening) of African-American women's hair. Princess has begun to paint pieces based on different pictures of African-American women that can be found in various styling magazines. In these magazines, women are portrayed usually with straightened or over the top hair styles and can be meant to portray the ideal of African-American hairstyles. Many of these styles draw on European culture and are attained through perms, straightening combs, or weaves, which is something Princess intends to explore. I find it very interesting that she is considering adding a performance aspect to her work in which she sews a weave into a woman's hair during the thesis show. 


I found Gabrielle Ambrozia’s  sculptures to be very elegant in their simplicity. I thought it was very interesting how she decided to use paper and paraffin wax in order to build her pieces, although what we saw were just templates. I also thought it was interesting how she pointed out that sculptures are often viewed as masculine based upon the medium they are made out of, such as steel or metal. People don't often think of sculptures being soft or maybe even fragile. She also had the idea of  making these sculptures extremely large in which, viewers would have to walk through them, which I think is a great idea. The only concern I have for Gabrielle would be the strength of her works in the show. Being that she had the idea of constructing her works out of water paper does not seem very stable, especially if children will be present and individuals will want to touch her pieces. However, I feel that Gabrielle is moving in an interesting position with her work and I look forward to seeing more from her.