Reflections on the Department of Art Exhibition

With the Department of Art Faculty Exhibition winding into its final days here at the OSU Urban Arts Space, it seems to be an appropriate time to reflect upon the experience. While a lot of positive and productive discussions have emerged as a result of this exhibit, among both the visitors and staff alike, a quiet and unspoken observation has alluded capture thus far.
The pieces that have stood out the most for me in this exhibit are Sergio Soave’s “The Kindergarten Project” and Ken Rinaldo’s “Buzz 2 2008”. I have found that when I talk to people about this exhibit, I often gravitate toward these pieces and find myself on the verge of ranting in their praise. While I cannot explain why I have been so invariably attracted to such different pieces, I could never shake the feeling that there was something under the surface that connected them. It wasn’t until today that I posited an idea about their connection, in that they serve as microcosms of the Department of Art Faculty Exhibition as a whole.
In Soave’s artist statement regarding his work, he cites that his prominent interest is using what he calls “a framework of small stories” to examine and enable “seemingly disparate images to create visual metaphors as counterparts to story telling rather than illustrations of particular stories.” The visual metaphors are illustrated in his piece and highlight the interconnectedness within that group of people. Rinaldo cites something similar in his statement, referring to the various “parallel networks” that are interconnected and intertwined through the creation of wine. Considering these similarities between the two pieces, I would like to then advance the claim that these traits of interconnectedness and ideas that overlap are representative of this exhibition in a macrocosmic sense. This is to say that visitors can come to the gallery and enjoy a presentation that features numerous pieces in a wide array of mediums and if they are further interested in these pieces, they can contact the artist directly since they are regular faculty members at The Ohio State University. This kind of accessibility allows the visitor to not only find connections between the pieces in the exhibit itself, but to also make connections for further education and enrichment.

David Hall, UAS Student Assistant