Spring term artist in residence, Reeva Potoff, received her MS in Art from Yale University. Nonetheless, she cites popular culture as an important source of her inspiration -- inspiration she has been able to translate into art thanks to her formal education and knowledge of traditional schools of art.
Potoff is an installation artist -- she incorporates her art into the surroundings in which it is displayed. Her works have been shown in the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Originally hailing from Connecticut, Potoff has a protean approach to art, constantly changing the subject matter, medium and representational style of her art.
Her early work was deeply influenced by 1960s politics. "Everything was up for grabs," she commented. Potoff's work from this time period consists primarily of large striated cardboard structures based upon blasted rock formations found beside highways.
Potoff always keeps feminist traditions and the concept of the heroic on her mind when fashioning her creations. According to her she addresses the "issues of the heroic tradition and my place in it."
Her most recent work, and the work which is currently on display in the Jaffe-Friede Gallery in the Hopkins Center, is a series of photomurals -- large composite murals of copied acetate prints layered over each other. A combination of photography and collage.
Potoff has not abandoned her tendency to work in a grand scale -- some of the murals are as large as eight feet across. The subject matter of these photomurals is women swimming. Shot entirely underwater, the murals have a murky quality to them, reflecting the interaction of light and water.
The heads of the women are never revealed, and most of the pictures were taken from strange angles. Both measures were taken to conceal the identity of the women.
"The photomurals reflect what the observer feels," Potoff said.
Some observers may feel a sense of longing or voyeuristic arousal contemplating the photomurals. Others may feel a macabre sense of choking, suffocating and drowning.
The larger photomurals which clearly depict women swimming will elicit the most visceral reactions from observers. There are several cloudy pieces which are hard to discern, and the beholder's emotional reaction dissipates with the clarity of the image.
Color plays an important role in the exhibit. While all the acetate prints are in color, the tones are never naturalistic, always assuming an odd shade of brown, green or purple that highlights and amplifies the viewer's reaction.
The photomurals are one example of an ever-changing style that alights on new subject matter every few years. Potoff is an artist constantly searching for her artistic language and mode of representation.
Interested students will be able to see a new phase in her quest this term.
