Gallery Critiques

Student 3 Fall 2000

I. Please summarize the content and theme of the event you attended. If you attended a play, please summarize the plot and main characters. If a recital, please list the pieces and any relevant information you learned about them from the program notes. If a gallery exhibit, please list some sample works included there and some information from the display notes.

Corrine Colarusso (Gallery Collection)- Museum of Arts and Sciences Macon, GA "Gaze Island' acrylis on canvas

"In the Dark of the Day, Swamp Bouquet" acrylic on canvas

"Elementary Astronomy: Blackboard Lesson" acrylic on canvas

"Free Wandering" Graphite, Ink, and collage on paper

The main theme of this exhibit was nature. Colarusso exemplified this theme by using subjects such as swamps, cosmos and birds.

II. Please ANALYZE the materials presented in terms of how they relate to our class materials. Consider the following points in your analysis and respond to as many of them as are relevant: What uses of color, line, shape, texture or rhythm were evident in the work(s)? Do any aspects of the performance or works in the exhibit illustrate functionalism? Realism? Idealism? Art and the Ordered Cosmos? Art as Self-Expression? If so, in what ways does the material illustrate these aesthetic schools of thought? Please list specific features of the performance which support your points.

Colarusso seemed to have most of her color schemes at odds with each other in most of her works. "In the Dark of the Day, Swamp Bouquet" had dark greens and blacks at the base of the painting and lighter greens and whites used for the vegetarian bouquet and skyline. At first glance, these nature landscapes evoked feelings of tranquility. After viewing them for a few seconds, the darkness contained within them seem to overwhelm and stir up eeriness! The best comparison I can think of would be some of Salvador Dali's works. There is a triangle that brings the viewers eyes to focus on the mass of swamp flowers in the middle. My impression from the color scheme and title of this work is that the artist wants to show that even in darkness, there is beauty. "Elementary Astronomy" There were lots of vertical lines with this work. The painting is mostly dark (dark greens, grays, blues) except for the middle. The center is comprised of whites, crèmes, and pinks. There are six or so large circles, each with their own theme contained within. One displays a bird, a few display dusk skylines, and one shows a sky with a stormy skyline. Each circle looks like a planet because of the surrounding darkness. The artist also uses the splatter paint effect again, as all of the circles are encompassed with crazy spirals of red, orange, and yellow (pupa in Yoruba chromatic scheme=hot, rage, short tamperment, etc.)

Once again, there is an offsetting effect. Circles traditionally suggest wholeness, completeness. The surrounding colors and spirals tend to suggest dysfunction and discontentment. "Free Wandering" This was one of the few pieces done on a medium besides canvas. The background is what seems to be an accountant's record book page. The work is done in all blue and white colors, with lots of circles and spirals, with wavy lines here and there. At first glance, this seems to be the work of a child due the scribbling technique. The nature theme is preserved because there is a collage contained within of a bird. Perhaps the artist is providing a view of her self-expression; the work seems to be a commentary on how easy it would be to stray from a monotonous task such as accounting and end up doodling, or "wandering" with a pen. This artist seems to be an impressionist by the techniques and subjects used in her paintings. She provides a flair to this school of painting by throwing in some abstract qualities, such as the splatter-paint effect and differing color schemes.

III. Finally, please list any other significant features of the performance that may not have been covered above. Were there any special themes or topics that were emphasized in the work(s)?

The predominant theme of Colarusso's exhibit is nature, more specifically scenes that are drawn from her impressions of the Okefenokee Swamp. Out of some twenty plus works that were displayed only several ventured outside of the nature landscape theme. Colarusso does have a uniques method concerning how she paints (or at least most of this exhibit) on canvas. When standing at distance from the nature paintings, all of the lines seems to be complete and flow as if it were done with a long, steady stroke. This is not the case. Upon closer viewing, most of the lines (horizontal, vertical, wavy, etc.) are done in what can be described as "splatter spots." Much like splatter-painting, her method is to drop dots of paint and join them with thin lines of solid paint. This method gave a neat textured look to her works, something I found to bring out the realism of her efforts. This method also seemed to be a compromise between implied lines and actual lines.

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