The next time you are in the Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts, whether checking your Hinman box or grabbing a bite to eat, check out the exhibits in the Lower Jewett Corridor, where the woodworking and jewelry workshops are located. Always interesting, the exhibits include works of both students and professional artists.
Currently on display (until November 6) is an exhibit by photographer Joseph Gluhman entitled "Transformations."
The works shown are landscape and still life compositions with a twist; Gluhman discovers interesting relationships in ordinary objects, surfaces and beautiful images that most people would normally not recognize.
Gluhman, from Auburn, Ala., uses a 35mm single lens reflex camera, hand-held light meters, and occasionally the computer technology of scanning and digitization to capture and add creative dimensions to such commonplace things as brick walls, rust, and graffiti.
To explain his work Gluhman writes, "Most of us do not live in glamorous locales. But fasciniating details can be found in very ordinary places. Particular conditions of light can reveal surprising aspects of unexceptional things. Unrelated objects and surfaces may be seen from points of view that juxtapose them in memorable ways."
In this exhibit, Gluhman's photographs have three main themes: landscapes interpreted in naturally occurring rust found on various metal surfaces, still life compositions of normally unrelated images, positions and objects, and aesthetically stimulating scenes found in rural and somewhat urban settings.
"Ravine" is a striking photograph of a rust formation on a painted, off-white surface. Contrasts in texture and color give this work a highly dimensional, geographic atmosphere, and the shape and placement of the formation gives the image the compositional feeling of an oil painting.
Focusing more on suggested emotion rather than physical resemblances, "Garden" is a beautiful work of black and sea green colors and rusty textures that are weaved together to produce a brooding, and at times, morose quality.
Somewhat unusual, "Kewpie" portrays a kewpie doll submerged in a clear glass jar filled with a mysterious yellow liquid. Simple in its composition, this piece is enigmatically stirring and exhibits hints of irony and humor.
"Mirage" is an outstanding work utilizing light, color, surface, shape, and dimension to produce a surrealistic effect in the photograph.
Horizontal bands of light in different shades of blue run between and are reflected off of two trucks parked side by side.
The forceful light, which should logically be in the background, pushes to the foreground and creates a mystical, electric effect that dominates the whole image.
One aspect of this series of photographs that might be questionable is the name given to each work.
Although they introduce unique ideas about what is actually being photographed, the titles of some of the works in this exhibit can be somewhat restrictive.
Many more interpretations about the subject matter can be made if the titles are disregarded, because of the fact that many of the pieces are just simply beautiful in themselves, without a nametag which influences the viewer.
Overall, this and other exhibits in the Lower Jewett Corridor should not be missed.
Walking down this discreet hallway, a viewer can find some imaginative and insightful images and ideas. One may also appreciate some great art along the way.
