Art Exhibition Review Essays Example

In my opinion, Artist Joey Behrens’ MFA Thesis exhibition, Architecture Embodied, was an unforgettable show. It was held on 8 April 2014 at the Trisolini Gallery in Baker University Center.
In the show, nine hand-made house sculptures were placed freely on the cardboard bases that were connected to the floor. The house sculptures were structured with wood sticks and covered with hand-made papers with etching on. The sizes of the sculptures varied, but all were approximately in the dimension of 20*20*20 cubic feet. Along with every house sculpture, there were one or two photographs of the sculpture being worn by the person hanging on the wall.
Interestingly, I passed the gallery twice before actually entering it. I had thought the works were still not finished due to their plain yellowish brown. However, I soon changed my mind when I came to know that these sculptures were more about spaces.
According to Behrens, her idea came from the thought that the environment around us shapes us, just as we shape it; and that this factor is beyond our control. For instance, people are not given a blank slate on which, they can build their houses, cities, and communities. In addition, people always compete with one another. This is because of the existence of a conflict between one’s needs and desires and those of others. Likewise, this exact phenomenon forms an imperfect landscape on which one can build a foundation he can adapt for the sake of building.
When Behrens first arrived in Athens, she was struck by the aesthetic sense of much of her cobbled together architecture. Same thing happened to me as well. If one really takes the time to read them, one will find that he or she can read the property, these structures, and the necessities express. Behrens always believed that buildings tell stories.
Lighting kit, audio and video recording equipment were used to document the fitting process, which, according to Behrens, is called “meet-and-greets.” Here, the volunteers were fitted to the wearable sculptures that she built for them.
Moreover, the artist also walked with the people wearing these sculptures in the beginning of month. The performers walked through various Athens neighborhoods to converge on the gallery space. Sadly, I did not get the chance to see the performance in person though. However, I heard it was amazing.
Overall, I think Behrens did an excellent job presenting her idea through the housing sculptures. The fact that every sculpture was delicately structured and printed showed the artist’s love and care which I found to be precious. In addition, the way she combined different, even disparate mediums together gave me the curiosity to use new Medias in my future artwork.