To start off, there were some really aesthetically pleasing photos in the first room of the gallery on the left of the gallery entrance. There was no label for the work, the photos were crisp and clear and had dressed people up in some very interesting outfits and make up. My favorites were the girl covered in white paint and black drips shaking off like a wet dog. The colors and movement of the paint on her body looked like a Jackson Pollock painting. The other one I liked was a close up of a woman's face with a tiny cherry pie held in front of her mouth. The camera caught the image of a drip coming out of the pie just in time. Overall, I'm not sure if there was a message behind the photos, but there were so visually appealing, I'd be okay taking them at face value.
Also in the first room were paintings by Catherine Haggarty. Her first two untitled paintings of milk cartons caught my attention for their texture. She used artists tape, two shades, for shading in the cartons. The image of the two cartons was very endearing. They looked like two cute little friends. I think this is because they were kind of fat and wobbly looking in the way she painted them. She had a few more paintings, but none of them had the same effect. They weren't as interesting. They didn't have interesting texture and were mostly colored shapes and canvas or board. The milk cartons stood out and I would have liked to have seen more painted in that same way.
The last group of paintings that attracted my attention in the main room were Night Park and Twilight on Mill Valley by Caetlynn Booth. I loved these two paintings for their colors and their accuracy of portraying the time when it just becomes night and dark. The paintings are photorealistically done, which usually doesn't interest me, but there had something different. They showed how details can be seen in the dark, at the twilight time of night, when you stare out at your surroundings and let what light is out still in. So much detail and color really is visible at this time and these paintings show that. My favorite part was the blues used for the skies, especially in Twilight on Mill Valley. The blues stood out against the other colors beautifully.
On another note, one group was a little disappointing. Their name wasn't up, but there were two paintings on the back wall of the gallery which were large and scribbly looking, in a way I feel I have seen over and over again in painting. They were interesting looking so I forgave it, but then on the wall next to them was a scribbly drawing. The drawing was far, far less interesting than the paintings though it was going for the same effect I think. Its just been over done I think.
Lastly, In the first room on the left in the gallery there was a little environment set up. I love environments. This one, by Erin Dunn, was a little...hard to understand. I'm not really sure what she was going for with the thread and twine and flowers and other random stuff laying around with seemingly no rhyme or reason. What I DID really like about this piece was the video playing. There was a little stop motion animation with the happiest cutest music I have heard in a long time. At one point, little pipecleaning people were dancing and I could hardly contain myself. I was very cute and uplifting. I'm still not really sure what she was going for though.
So! Overall, lots of interesting stuff...lots of good...lots of "eh"...but nicely put together. I think there was something eye-catching in every room. For good or bad.
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