The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 17, 2003, Page 5, Image 5
_ THE GAMECOCK * Monday, February 17, 2003 5
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Artfully done
USC Art Department showcases 76 pieces of student
artwork in annual exhibition atMcMaster Gallery
BY ASHLEY VAUGHAN
THE GAMECOCK
What do penguin boxers, a
pierced stuffed bunny rabbit
and a parade of peaches have in
common? Aside from being
fuzzy, these three objects are
also images found in the art
work on display at the 47th
Annual Student Art Exhibition
in McMaster Gallery.
Comprising 76 pieces of art
chosen by juror Paul Matheny,
curator of art from the South
Carolina State Museum, the ex
hibit contains artwork that
varies considerably in style,
content, genre and type of me
^dia.
Mana Hewitt, McMaster
College gallery director, said:
“I specifically asked our juror
to represent the whole depart
ment, not just one given thing,
and to show work from enter
ing freshman students all the
way up to our graduate pro
gram.”
Thursday night, the gallery
was packed with students eager
to hear the juror’s announce
ment of this year’s winners.
“It’s really nice to see an ac
tive, buzzing art building,”
Hewitt said. “Three years ago,
we moved into this building.
Prior to that, we were in seven
different buildings, and now
we’re under one roof.”
Rebecca Rhees, a second-year
graduate student who won best
in show, agreed. “It’s fun to see
the range and creativity made by
our community of students in the
Art Department.”
Students chatted and ate hot
dogs while they waited for the
winners to be announced.
Rhees made her piece,
“Heart,” through a 19th-century
process called tin typing. “The
initial source for creating ‘Heart’
really came out of experimenta
tion with my materials,” she
said. “I was interested in seeing
how making four separate tin
types would come together to cre
ate a singular image.”
Rhees found that the black
edges of tin type form a grid pat
tern, dividing the image. Using
a male chest as her subject,
Rhees used the lines to mark ar
eas of dissection, “centering on
the heart,” she said.
Takina Holloman, a third-year
media-arts student, said Rhees
deserved the recognition she re
ceived at the exhibition.
“Rebecca has a really good eye. I
don’t know how she does it,”
Holloman said.
In the 3-D category, Eric
Miller was.surprised to learn
he had won first place for his
sculpture of a bronze bunny
called “B.I.T. (Bunny in Tow).”
Miller described his artwork
as mostly figurative and ab
stract.
“I was just kind of experi
menting with metal,” Miller said.
“I like to'combine different ma
terials, less traditional materi
als. It was almost an exercise in a
way.”
In the same category, Kenneth
Baskin walked away with second
place for “Urbanscape,” a metal
sculpture resembling smoke
stacks, and Hwa-Won Lee won
third place for her stoneware
sculpture “Blue Line.”
First place in the film/photo
category went to Anthony
Vogeltanz for his 12-minute
thriller, “Misplaced.”
Vogeltanz said he was so shocked
when he heard he won that he al
most fell out of his chair. “I couldn’t
believe it,” he said.
“Lately, I’ve found myself
drawn to horror because it has
more of a realistic side to it,”
Vogeltanz said, “like the little
ghost tales you tell children to
make them behave.”
Angelique Gibson snagged sec
ond place for “Shades of Past,” and
Rebecca Rhees took third place with
her untitled photograph.
♦ STUDENT ART, SEE PAGE 6
“It’s fun to see the
range and creativity
made by our community
of students in the Art
Department.”
REBECCA RHEES
WINNER OF BEST IN SHOW
-.
PHOTOS BY MORGAN FORD/THE GAMECOCK
Rebecca Rhees, a graduate student, won best in show for her
piece “Heart” at the 47th Annual Student Art Exhibition. Rhees
created the piece using a tin-typing technique. The black edges of
tin type signify marks for dissection, centering on the heart.
CD REVIEW
Matin’s masterpiece
proves to be ‘fine art ’
“THE FINE ART OF SELF
DESTRUCTION”
Jesse Malin
out of
BY MEG MOORE
THE GAMECOCK
Popular music has rarely had
a place for the troubled
troubadour. In a world where
pop princesses
reign and lyrically
challenged rock
* Hands fill the royal
court, the true
artiste has little
chance of making it
big. Fortunately for
the discerning lis
tener, talented mu
sicians such as
jesse maun continue iu sunaee
and suffer for their art, despite
their music’s lack of mainstream
attention.
As the front man for New York
City-,based punk outfit D
Generation, Malin is an unlikely
candidate for indie-rock acclaim.
Yet, with the help of alt-country
friend Ryan Adams, Malin has
put out a vintage-tinged album
that is a little bit folk, a little bit
rock ’n’ roll and, above all, a gen
uine masterpiece.
Obviously, it could be said that
Malin’s debut solo effort, “The
Fine Art of Self-Destruction,”
would never even have been con
ceived if not for his musical
friends in high places — aka
Adams. Yet, even more apparent
is the fact that such an oversight
would have been an injustice to
both Malin and to his prospective
listening audience.
Recorded in a mere six days,
Malin’s first attempt at “fine art”
is certainly a musical marvel.
From retro-rock tracks such as
the “Mrs. Robinson”-esque
“Brooklyn,” to folk-tinged tunes
luce sontaxre,”
Malin’s solo de
but aptly mixes
feeling with
function.
Although his
lyrics rattle
with angst and
his voice war
bles with raw
honesty,
aiaim s bungs remain catchy and,
at times, almost carefree.
Expanding beyond his punk
roots, Malin emerges as a talented
lyricist — a prowess that one
♦ MALIN, SEE PAGE 7
Malin’s solo debut
aptly mixes feeling
with function.
Although his lyrics
rattle with angst, his
songs remain catchy.
MOVIE REVIEW
History jumps to silver screen
“BLOODY SUNDAY”
Directed by Paul Greengrass
★★★★★ out of frfr☆☆☆
BY BEN ANGSTADT
THE (iAMBCOCK
Jan. 30,1972, thousands of
demonstrators in Northern
Ireland came together to hold a
peaceful march to protest the
British rule of their homeland.
Hours later, 14 protesters were
dead and dozens others were
wounded after British soldiers
fired on the crowd. History has
dubbed that day Bloody
Sunday.
It inspired the famous U2
song “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”
Director Paul Greengrass has
now presented the events of the
Bloody Sunday Massacre on the
big screen, in his film “Bloody
Sunday.”
The natives of Northern
Ireland resented the rule of
Great Britain over their country
because they were routinely de
nied basic civil rights. But while
the actions taken against the
British government by the Irish
Republican Army were usually
violent, the Northern Irish used
civil disobedience to stage a
peaceful demonstration.
Greengrass’ directing style
gives amazing authenticity to
his powerful film. Much of the
camera work is done with a
hand-held camera that jostles
and bounces as the cameraman
runs, giving viewers the sensa
tion that they are actually there,
participating in the events that
took place on that infamous day.
During the demonstration,
because of escalating violence
against the government, the
British government decided to
station soldiers along the city
streets where the events would
play out.
In the end, the soldiers
opened fire on the crowd in re
sponse to the few brash demon
strators who opted to hurl rocks
at their British oppressors.
British soldiers attacked even
those who came into the open to
help the wounded.
To further bolster the realism
in “Bloody Sunday,” many of the
thousands of extras cast as
demonstrators were actually
participants in the civil-rights
march in 1972. Though many
people in the world were ap
palled by the actions of the
British military, Queen
Elizabeth II eventually decorat
ed those military leaders who or
ganized the operation.
Overall, the film has a docu
mentary feel, as it quickly
changes back and forth between
scenes of the demonstrators, the
military, the military leadership
and the organizers of the demon
stration. There are quick fade
outs between scenes that are
reminiscent of old news broad
casts and recordings.
These interesting transitions
reinforce the fact that the film is
ultimately a product of history
and not just a work of art.
“Bloody Sunday” is a capti
vating film that tells a little
known story that exaggerates
how precious freedom is and
how much sacrifice has been
made by our predecessors to se
cure that freedom.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockmixeditor@notmail.com
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
James Nesbitt portrays
civil-rights leader Ivan
Cooper In “Bloody Sunday.”
BOOK REVIEW
Novel
shines
despite
gloom
■ “SUICIDE CASANOVA”
Arthur Nersesian
■*•★★★ out of ☆☆☆☆☆
BY BRIAN RAY
THE GAMECOCK
Arthur Nersesian’s latest
novel follows a New Yorker’s
ill-fated quest to ignite an old
flame and reclaim his vitali
ty
“Suicide Casanova” has ev
erything in common with F.
Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great
Gatsby,” including material
istic hedonism, a tragic hero
and eye-opening prose.
Nersesian’s style glimmers in
the darkness of this down-and
out tale.
Refusing to seek counseling
after accidentally strangling
his wife in the middle of an
orgy with a New York
University undergrad, Leslie
Caldwell walks his apartment
at night killing pigeons with
his pellet gun.
While mourning his wife,
Cecilia, he stumbles upon a
videotape of his first love, Sky
Pacifica, a ’70s porn actress
who has since dropped her
bad habits and picked up a
family.
The ’70s pom scene serves
as a backdrop for the story.
Caldwell recounts shameless
ly how he fell in love with Sky
while frequenting porn the
atres in Times Square.
Caldwell’s wife worked as
a dominatrix in a jazzed-up
cabaret for New York’s
lawyers and politicians be
fore her ironic death.
Seeping into a drug- and
memory-haunted, savagely
comic depression, Caldwell
seeks out Sky Pacifica. The
journey takes him through
New York subway tunnels
infested with old posters of
Sky, and finally to Franklin
Township, where he discov
ers that she does social
work
His attempts to comer her
in one last sexual encounter
become increasingly desper
ate; meanwhile, the law firm
that pays for his chardonnay
is nearing bankruptcy at the
hands of a judge who once
went to Cecilia for spank
ings.
The downward spiral ends
in Caldwell’s ultimate demise.
Stalking, impersonating a
photographer from Calvin
Klein, intense internal con
flict and oodles of sex domi
nate Caldwell’s journey as his
mind rewinds and fast-for
wards through the proverbial
pom-filled tape of his past.
We see everything from
Caldwell’s kinky yet fulfilling
courtship of Cecilia to Sky’s
struggle for survival after ev
ery strip club and director in
two cities blacklists her as a
result of her incessant coke
abuse.
In a series of flashbacks
from the late ’70s through
the mid-’80s, Nersesian
gives us a compelling love
story and characters whom
the reader can identify with
and pity.
Caldwell has lost his mind
in 2001, but 20 years ago, he
saved Sky from cold nights in
♦ SUICIDE,’SEE PAGE 7