Thursday, February 27, 1997
ART:
‘Impudent’ allows students to go beyond genre and theme limitsBy
Ismael Osuna
Daily Bruin Contributor
Where else but UCLA’s third annual Senior Art Exhibit can a
person go see a piece titled "Smushfat Motherfucker  Babaa Do
Saale Ko" and intentionally poor photography on display as art?
Titled "Impudent," this year’s Senior Art Exhibit exemplifies
the caliber of work that UCLA art students are able to produce when
given the chance. For many senior art students, the exhibit is a
chance to show the ability and knowledge they have gained as
artists while at UCLA.
Beginning Friday at the Wight Art Gallery and running until
March 22, the exhibit is a center of innovative talent.
Each student of senior standing in the art department is allowed
to enter one piece of original art to the exhibit. What is unique
about the show is that the piece can be of their own choosing.
Also, none of the exhibits have been created to fit a specific
theme or genre and so exemplify art in its purest and most inspired
form.
"This is an opportunity to show the community what we’re all
about," says Jeremiah Day, a senior art student whose contribution
to the exhibit is a collection of poorly shot photographs. "These
works are about processes as opposed to object making. They’ve come
out of inquiry instead of just making a pretty picture. It shows
what we’ve learned, how we’ve grown."
Started in a small space on the second level of the Wight Art
Gallery, the Senior Art Exhibit has gained the recognition and
respect of the art department in the past two years. This year it
will be officially recognized by the department and has been given
a budget to subsidize the exhibit.
"This is the first year that we have been officialized," Day
says. He adds that he hopes the exhibit will become a legacy. "Last
year we weren’t sure it was going to happen, but this year we were
sure, and we know it will happen next year too."
The student-run exhibit was begun two years ago by senior art
students who felt dissatisfied with the way art pieces were chosen
for exhibition in the Undergraduate Art Exhibit. The students felt
that the juried form of choosing the pieces encroached upon their
ability to express themselves fully as artists, and they decided to
create their own exhibit where they could show their personal
artistic expression.
"A hallmark of UCLA curriculum in the art department is that
there is no genre to our artistic endeavors. We wanted to build
upon this point," says Neha Choksi, a senior art student.
Even though the Senior Art Exhibit follows the presentation of
the Undergraduate Art Exhibit, Lynne Chan, a senior art student and
one of the students heading the committee in charge of the exhibit,
denies the possibility that the two exhibits can be seen as a
rivalry between different generations of artists within the same
school.
"This exhibit should be taken more as a comparison between the
work being created by undergraduates and graduating seniors in
order to generate discussion," Chan says. "Seniors aren’t required
to have a thesis work as an end project to their undergraduate
education, so this is our way of showing where we’ve come
from."
In this way, the Senior Art Exhibit also presents a challenge to
senior students exhibiting work.
"This is a great chance for us all, but at the same time it’s a
great chance for us to fall flat on our face," says Day. "Without a
curator to guide us we’re left to answer to ourselves."
Neha Choksi is also a member of the committee in charge of the
exhibit, and feels that the Senior Art Exhibit is in any case a
good learning experience.
"Many students will never get a chance to exhibit their work.
With this exhibit we’re giving them that chance. To me this exhibit
is a comparative re-assessment of where I stand as an artist," says
Choksi. "This should be a learning and growing experience for all
who participate."
ART: The Senior Art Exhibit wil be at the Wight Art Gallery
through March 22. There will be music and food at the opening
Friday from 5-7 p.m.
SHAWN LAKSMI/Daily Bruin
Deanna Navakuku, a senior art student, prepares her piece
"Plato" for display at the Wight Gallery. The exhibit opens Friday
at 5 p.m.