Home here - Gallery exhibition
My whole class visited the Home here exhibition together, I was very exited to go and visit, since i haven't had the chance to visit the NJCU art gallery before. When I walked in and saw the name of the exhibition, "home here" the first thing that came to my mind was the current political environment and immigration situations happening in the US, I walked in expecting to see that kind of message, however, once i walked in i was confronted with something different, something less physical like a place, and maybe more sentimental, like the place we all be long or where we all come from. I think we all know that "Home" isn't really a place, or maybe it is, but it isn't the place itself what makes it feel "home-like'. For me, the gallery presented topics like memories, lived experiences, nostalgia and personal relationships. A home is not a house, but a lived space we make ours, maybe home is the people we grew up with.
Growing up I moved a lot, my family never stayed in a single apartment for too long, every couple years we'd pack up and go somewhere new. Then when I was 19 I moved to Argentina on my own, and then, when I was 21 I came to the US. what I'm trying to explain is that, i don't have this one place that feels like "MY home". I've had multiple homes trough the years, trough different continents, but I've always had my family with me, I've always had a place to call home because I have people that I love that love me back.
When walking around the gallery I saw that all the artist expressed some feelings similar to the ones I have, with lived spaces, a baby stroller, old photographs, everyday objects found in a neighborhood, a family tree, or random object's you'd see around in a room. All these pieces represent a sense of belonging, of missing or recontextualizing growing up in different ways. at least that's my interpretation.
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Tina Maneca: Comfort is inaction
Tina Maneca's piece was immediately alluring to me because of the deliberate use of color in the piece. I love the contrast the colorful plushies have in the light gray stroller, the white translucent sheet on top covering everything and the colorful chair with more colorful plushies on top, aesthetically it's a piece that's right of my alley. Ms. Tina talked to us about how she did her exhibition, she explain the deliberate use of colorful "drug bags" of marihuana she had found in the street (detail that initially went over my head since I'm unfamiliar with them). I don't really remember having a strong reaction towards this piece, but the use of color, shapes and textures made me get lost observing every minute detail on the makeshift carpet.
Jennifer Roberts:
I remember reading something somewhere, about how the space we inhabit is carries memories, and how it is a reflection of who we are as people, our routines, our believes and how we interacted with the world in a genuine way. When I laid eyes onto this corner of the room with all this photographs and notebook i thought about that, about who the type of person who inhabits this makeshift space might be. Anyways, my initial reaction aside, once i learned more about the exhibition, the use of pictures as a preservation of memories, and specially when I read the text discussing the Autor's grandma, my heart saddened with nostalgia and grief.
I'm lucky enough to have all my grandparents and grandmothers alive. I'm extremely lucky in that regard, however, both my grandmothers have degenerative sicknesses related to their memories and cognitive functions, one of them doesn't even remember her own son (my dad). This piece tugged at my heartstrings, I haven't technically lost my grandmas, they haven't passed, but each day they forget more and more, in a way I'd say this feels worse. I don't really know why, but seeing all this pictures of families looking back at me, seeing the empty space on the chair, it highlighted memories and loss for me, it got me very emotional.
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Questions:
Why have you chosen these works to review?
Well, I think I chose these two pieces for two completely different reasons. Tina Maneca's piece appealed to my artist sensibilities, it awoken my interest for colors and patterns, when I do art I am very deliberate with how and why I chose the colors I use, because I think there's an inherent beauty to them when used in an appealing way.
Jennifer Robert's in the other hand appealed to my emotions, more precisely to my grief and longing of a time past gone, to the fear of people I love loosing their memories, to the fear of me being affected by such a condition. I think the fear of death is a present one in my life, and for whatever reason (intended or not by the author) this little installment in the corner of the room teleports me to a space of fear, sadness and dread.
I think that art appeals to people for different reasons, I'm sure that what I took from each piece is different from whatever the authors intended, and I know for sure that the details that specifically appealed to me are based on my own sensibilities as an audience member observing these pieces trough my own subjective experiences, so I wanted to share what i found interesting in both of them.
How might they be activist or interventions?
Well art always carries a message, a social message, a political message or something about the author. every piece of art carries something the author wants to share, and in the pieces we saw today some things were very deliberate on the part of the authors.
How do they connect to your own artwork (if you make artwork) or your life?
I am an artist and I always observe the world from a place of curiosity, every time i look at a tree in the wind, or a shadow in the sidewalk i think "Huh, i really want to draw this to understand it better" or "Man seeing this really makes me want to draw", seeing today's pieces was not any different, both pieces made me feel inspired, i thought many things.
"dude, i love how abstract, ominous and ethereal this work is" I said to myself when looking at Jaz Graf's piece, it made me want to make something that maybe isn't representational or clear at first sight. My art tends to be very clear, but I'd like to dabble more into pieces that maybe aren't obvious at first sign.
When I was looking at Nicole DeMaio's work first I only saw chaos and mismatched objects on the wall, but in closer inspection i noticed a lot of things related to sound, so when i read that she was actually a musician it made me thought about how we artist can use knowledge in multiple disciplines to more effectively communicate our message. I might not be a musician myself, but seeing pieces like this make me want to use different mediums, different textures, different objects. It inspires me to want to make art with less traditional mediums than pen and paper.
What is the curatorial narrative of the exhibition as far as you can see and read?
Well, the first thing that comes to mind is the fact that the presentation consisted purely of local female artist, so much was clearly stated by the curator and the pamphlet we were given. The people that set up the exhibition clearly wanted to highlight artist that don't strictly fit the idea of what an artist is (white males). Not only that, but some of the artist themselves highlighted different social aspects (childhood, family, drugs)
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