The University Art Gallery at San Diego State has a new exhibition called “Headless,” featuring submitted works by graduate art students. Graduate students were free to submit any type of work for the exhibition.
“There wasn’t any specific theme,” SDSU graduate student Peter Scheidt said. “The only requirement was that students had to work on it here.”
Scheidt, who studies furniture design and woodworking, submitted a clever piece titled “Pair of Timeout Chairs for Small Children.” If a child seated on the chair gets up before the punishment time is over, a door opens above the child’s head and releases water from a bucket that’s placed on top. The mechanism on the seat didn’t work while the chair was on display, so viewers couldn’t get a full demonstration. However, the imagination is enough to see how the chair works.
A binder is provided at the entrance of the gallery so viewers can read statements from each artist about the inspirations for their submissions. The artists’ words are helpful in understanding the theme behind the works on display. One colorful piece on the wall resonated with me more once I went back and read that it was a presentation regarding concerns about pollution. The dirty colors and rough textures of the piece meant much more than simply being an eye-catching detail and was an important artistic message.
Each work at the exhibition has a unique use of medium as well. The gallery etiquette is to not touch the artwork, but the attractive textures on some of the works made it tempting to break the rules. One such series of works, “In Contact” and “With Contact,” explored the human desire to touch for comfort and intimacy. The small, flesh-colored work hanging from the wall just asked to be touched.
There are many more works to be seen at the “Headless” graduate exhibition which will be shown through Oct. 23. The University Art Gallery located in the Art Building on campus is open Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free, so come check out the creative works by the art students here on campus.
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Photo by Monica Linzmeier, photo editor
