Color is the main focus of “Spectrum,” the current exhibit at the W. Keith and Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery. The exhibition features work from 12 contemporary artists utilizing color as the crucial element.
The exhibit will be on display through Feb. 18. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, Jan. 22 from 6 to 8 p.m.
Gallery curator Shari Wasson says the colorful works can be captivating to anyone on campus.
“‘Spectrum’ is structured around color, one of the most essential and powerful elements in the artist’s palette of formal devices. Color in these artists’ work is an undeniable presence, flashing its hues in varying tones and intensities, attracting, delighting, perhaps sometimes repelling, but ultimately insisting that we look,” she says.
This predominant focus on color brings many vibrant and distinctive works. One of these is “Sweeter Pea” by Thomas Pathe. Pathe’s unique process includes taking ordinary objects and scanning them for their color at a hardware store. The resulting hues are applied to uniquely shaped panels, creating paintings that are a fusion of color and sculpted form.
A set of works by Whitney Hanlon, “FacePaint Series (Frankie & Sasha),” immediately captures the viewer’s attention. Hanlon creates photographs of human faces dipped in marble swirled paint.
The artists drew on many different sources of inspiration, including pop culture, technology and personal heritage. R.T. Pece’s works, including “Protrusioned Peeker,” merge a pop art sensibility with an abstract viewpoint. Pece says his enigmatic characters address “the irony of making such silly, doodle-ish figures the subject of ‘high-art.'”
Wasson notes that the campus community can relate to the colors through viewing the artists’ work. “In looking, we experience color within the formal and conceptual context of contemporary art, and more specifically within each artist’s interests and aesthetic sensibility,” she says.
The exhibition is free and open to the public. It is open Tuesday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. For more information, call the gallery at (909) 869-4302 or contact Wasson at (909) 869-4301 or sgwasson@cpp.edu. Visit www.cpp.edu/~kellogg_gallery for more information about the gallery.
(Photo: Brian Porray’s “supersymmetry for SP33D FR34KS.”)