Movement, Installment, Method: MFA Review

Wandering around the Washington State University Museum of Art and the Masters of Fine Art Thesis display, it was as though modern art styling gel had been smeared all throughout the partitioned room. Interesting new methods to art expression radiated captivating auras and seduced the onlooker to explore further. There were digital paintings by Heather Losey McGreachy, installation art by Lauren McCleary and Dustin Price, and video art by Tobias Walther.

Heather Losey McGreachy, inspired by a connection between the physical and digital world, demonstrated the most aesthetically pleasing pieces. Tolstoy would have trouble classifying her blended realities as art due to the fact that the clearness of her individual feeling was not there, however sincere her intentions may have been. Hume, on the other hand, could argue conversely. His standard of taste appears to be confirmed in McGreachy’s digital paintings through the overall consensus heard that her work was art. Though the viewers were not nearly the perfect critics; combined, the judgment, through good sense and comparison, elicited a general standard and opinion from which her paintings were judged.

The installation pieces were dramatically different in appearance. Lauren McCleary combined three pieces (Elephant Splat, Between Being, and Walk Wander) in a manner that jumped beyond, but also touched on, the canvas. Dustin Price’s Untitled tree of multiple white Buddha was more contained and simply represented. Both installations reminded of the inner workings of the brain. McCleary appeared to relate with an elephant which symbolized a large weight or unspoken sentiment which crowded the room, confused her being, and sent her into some sort of wandering state. Price brought nature indoors and connected it with knowledge, or possibly religion, cushioning its fall with a pure pile of pillows. These pieces hold greater importance in Aristotle’s interpretation of art. While both pieces seek to imitate an idea, the imitation has a purpose for human nature and thus man learns from interpreting unreachable ideas.

Tobias Walther experimented with one of the newest forms of art expression, that being videography. While the title of his piece (Sailor) seems out of place amongst the rolling wheat fields, tunnels and barrels he captures, an overriding sense of nausea emerges from viewing his imagery. In that sense, a sailor his viewers become. As far as representation, Dewey would argue that the mere experience, the medium included, defines the elements of the art and that is what we become focally aware of, creating the world work of art. Therefore, Walther’s art inducing sea sickness while also visually stimulating the audience is the art. While Dewey makes a great point, Sailor created no whole and was simply jumbled parts, not yet cohesive or clear.

Two years worth of work from five artists created an intriguing display, and the variety of art provoked deep reflection through underlying themes. It was a fusion of art theories connected by a common institutional background and similar world experience. One day, one of these artists may discard an old piece of art, which may end up in a pawn shop. There, the person who purchases the artwork could look upon it in disgust, but take it home as a gag gift or out of sheer impulse. Later, it might be debated on whether or not this particular piece of art belongs to that particular artist, but never the less, the method and style represented today by each artist acts only as a page in their extensive portfolio.