For most people, art shows are about famous artists and iconic images, but what about the artists who have yet to attain stardom or even graduate from art school? While it may be easy to disregard students as lacking the talent of more seasoned veterans, these are the artists of the future, and their works hint at the direction contemporary art will take in the next few years.
Every great artist has to start somewhere, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is a reputable place to begin one's career. That does not mean, however, that every artist passing through this institution will have what it takes to make it in today's changing art world. The failing economy means stricter spending habits and artists will have to become more daring and innovative if they want to stand apart from the massive amounts of object-based art being produced today.
The recession is the most pressing issue facing the artists presenting their work in the Student Annual Exhibition of 2009, on view until March 10 at the SMFA. Two art professionals selected the 62 artists, whose works were chosen from over 200 submissions. They were chosen based on their technical skills and conceptual insights. Although a wide range of subjects and mediums are presented in the show, there is a decisive emphasis on painting, the most traditional form of art on the market.
Painting always has, and always will have, a strong presence in the art world, but this does not give the genre an excuse to be uninspiring. If artists are going to continue to explore this medium, they must be willing to take more risks by exploring methods and subjects that have never before been represented. There are many paintings that fall neatly into the category of surrealism and others that employ techniques used in pop art from the 1960s, such as cartoon characters and paint-by-number motifs. In general, there are few paintings in this show that shatter the mold or offer anything new and exciting.
This does not mean that the show is by any means a failure or a waste of time. Its saving grace is the incredible creativity displayed in some of the more radical works that utilize mixed media, pushing art toward a new form of avant-garde. One of these pieces would be almost unnoticeable if not for the wall text identifying it. Despite its small size and discreet nature, this work, entitled "Delilah Shaw," by Brandon Andrews, breaks with convention by abandoning the idea of art as an object.
In this work, Andrews explores the space of the gallery by physically rupturing the white wall and placing a tiny light in the created hole. The bulb itself is not visible, but the radiant light illuminates through the crack in the surface as if attempting to escape and expand. This work may be influenced by Lucio Fontana's torn canvases and Dan Flavin's fluorescent light sculptures, but the concept remains unique and provocative. Whether art like this could be sold remains uncertain, but its freshness is undeniable in comparison with its rather stale surroundings.
There are other artists in the exhibition that display equally original concepts and designs, such as Daniel Philips with his piece "Drawing with Light." This work combines painting, performance and light in a video that is both abstract and figural. The work is not a film in the traditional sense, however, because Philips displays a rapid-fire sequence of still photographs instead of a continuous stream of video. The effect is choppy yet graceful and visually pleasing, even though the images themselves contain unsettling paintings and fragmented glass. Overall, the piece shows that the artist is working in a new direction to create a stimulating end product.
Many of the other students in this show could learn something from the experimental techniques used by artists like Andrews and Philips. Although a large number of the more traditional works could have easily been sold before the current economic crisis, today's art market leaves buyers with an excess of choices. The students at the SMFA have serious potential, but they must be willing to take more chances in their work if they are going to make it in the art world of the near future.
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Student Annual Exhibition
At the Grossman Gallery and Anderson Auditorium, through March 10
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
230 The Fenway
617-267-9300
