Tanner Kazio

Posted on January 27, 2021April 16, 2021 by Ben Weathers

Tanner Kazio

Summary to “My Best Friend Mary”

Follow a Little Girl as she uses her imaginary friend to help her walk through and comprehend losing her mother to illness. Along the way the story flips back and forth between present time and flashbacks to better understand why it is that the Little Girl’s imaginary friend looks the way they do.

Tanner Kazio – Artist Statement

I spent this past year unlearning a lot of standards that we have set as a society to help me to rebuild how I want to see the world. Of course there are some negative and ugly things in the world, but something I’ve realized is that a lot of kids have this beautiful blindness to that ugliness. They haven’t learned that you’re supposed to act a certain way, think a certain way, so they can have a positive experience wherever they go because society hasn’t told them what is good and bad yet. They are free to try certain foods, watch a movie, or go someplace without the burden of prejudice or bias.

To an artist, a clean slate or blank canvas if you will, is a daunting starting point. However, in life it can be a beautiful place to build. The danger comes when we think our canvas has run out of room. The funny thing is, our canvas is never full and it can always be painted over to bring about a better and bigger picture. For as long as we are alive we should be learning, experiencing, and listening. If you are too stubborn and closed minded to do any of that then what is the point of your eyes, ears, tongue, hands, and nose. Use your senses to enlighten yourself so you can live a full life.

I’ve been trying to see how kids react to things by joking with my little cousins and asking others what their fears were growing up. I’ve used these answers to help with studies I’ve done using charcoal, chalk pastels, and colored pencil as you can see in the background here. For the comic I did it digitally to try and focus on the massage and composition of frames. I am trying to look at the world with a fresh start, so I have been digging deep into my inner child and trying to take things on with a blind optimism. I also tried tackling some harder hitting topics like love, loss, and even roles that larger structures like religion can play in our lives in my original comic “My Best Friend Mary”.

Chuang Liu

Posted on January 27, 2021April 16, 2021 by Ben Weathers

Walking Along the River

Chuang Liu

I was taking a walk along the Raritan River near my apartment. The trail was in the middle of the river dividing the water into two sections. A Mallard flew from one side to the other. The residue of broken shellfish was left on the section of trail that was paved by stone. On my way back, I found a boning stainless steel knife stuck by its point on a tree. I took it home.

Fish
Digital Image
2021

Untitled

My eyes took about two to three minutes to adjust in the darkness. My vision became noisier, similar to an image taken with high ISO. The first action I did was to make sure that I wouldn’t spill the water I use to clean brushes. The light outside almost became too bright. I arranged the 21-milliliter 48 colored acrylic paints into a line from lightest to darkest. The canvas’s dimension of 8 inches by 10 inches was a perfect size to hold in the dark.

Untitled #1
Digital Image
2021

Untitled #4
Digital Image
2021

Untitled #2
Digital Image
2021

Untitled #5
Digital Image
2021

Untitled #3
Digital Image
2021

Playing with Snow

Try to hold a piece of ice along with the video until you can no longer endure it.

Where the Fly was

Since I was cooking, I opened the balcony door to ventilate my living room. A fly got in and landed on a wall near me. I went to grab my camera and the fly was gone. I imagined where it could have landed and traveled around my living room.

Each of my projects is a different kind of activity for the viewers to take a closer look at the surroundings, to consider their perspective, and to empathize with others.

Block
5 in. x 5 in. x 3 in.
Acrylic on plaster
2020

Chuang Liu
liuchuang116@gmail.com

Ali Marshall

Posted on January 27, 2021April 16, 2021 by Ben Weathers

Haptic

Ali Marshall

“HAPTIC” explores the tension between physically perceived and mentally conjured colors. I wanted to run my hand along the boundary wall between the natural and the formal to find some crack where the ineffable flows through. Since I began at Mason Gross, a Cezanne quote has echoed in my head, “ I must tell you that as a painter I am becoming more clear-sighted before nature, but with me the realization of my sensations is always painful. I cannot attain the intensity that is unfolded before my senses. I have not the magnificent richness of colouring that animates nature.” I feel the struggle Cezanne describes in my bones.

With this collection, I endeavored to hone my own perception of color. I began by visiting three of my favorite parks four times over the past semester, and I supplemented this field work with study of classic color theorists. During my exploration of color theorists like Johannes Itten and Josef Albers, I stumbled upon a text by Albers that defined haptic sense, which he describes as “the discrepancy between physical fact and psychic effect.” Although Albers wrote about the difference between a color you want to create and the actual color you make, his description haunted me, especially as I processed how I’ve perceived time through my COVID quarantine. My haptic sense of time has altered – this past year felt like both the longest and shortest of my life.

I decided to combine my four seasonal visits to each park into a single piece. Through this combination, the past year blends into one overarching experience of space, time, and color. The focus shifts from pure translation of natural colors to a formal contemplation of my own mental process as I take my perception, convert it into color, and blend it across the past year. The holistic result embodies my haptic sense of the experience, the gap that runs along that boundary wall between the world that is and the world we depict.

“07716”

Oil on Canvas, 20in x 30in

Hartshorne Park, Atlantic Highlands, NJ

“07732”

Oil on Canvas, 20in x 30in

Fort Hancock, Sandy Hook, NJ

“07738”

Oil on Canvas, 20in x 30in

Thompson Park, Lincroft, NJ

Click each piece for more process photos.

Artist Statement

Ali explores color, texture and process through her work at Mason Gross. Rather than highlighting her life outside painting, Ali focuses on the labor of painting itself as her subject. Laid bare on the canvas, her struggle to create is both universal and deeply personal. Since COVID-19 forced her out of her studio, acrylic landscapes have seeped back into her work; in that way, Ali has come full circle, back to the landscape and architectural paintings with which she began. Landscapes have always been an important subject matter for her because they mark seminal moments in her life. After dropping out of her first college, Ali meditated on the rolling hills and cornfields through which she drove on the six-hour journey home. Her COVID quarantine has only sharpened her desire to explore her surroundings.

With her thesis, Ali combines her distinct practices of landscape painting and textural color explorations in her preferred medium, oil. Committed to the exploration of haptic perception of color and time, Ali organized, planned and supplemented her research to create a pseudo-scientific process she then applied to her work. Through this process, Ali meditates on the tension between her natural surroundings and the artificial nature of painting itself.

Tara Mastromihalis

Posted on January 27, 2021April 16, 2021 by Ben Weathers

Tara Mastromihalis

From a Distance

“For a knowledge of intimacy, localization in the spaces of our intimacy is more urgent than determination of dates.”
― Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space

Artist Statement

Over the course of my studies in painting, I’ve uncovered my interest in architectural subjects and how they are observed and function in everyday life. I approach painting with a formal, observation-based process that incorporates the complexity and manipulation of color and contrast. I’ve found that this method has evolved into my own visual experience while working with geometric forms.

My work embodies a collaborative standpoint through the source material. In the last few months, I’ve compiled a series of imagery from those willing to provide me with their scenic and architectural discoveries, as I was seeking views of the world outside of my own. Since the beginning of this series, I’ve reached out to both strangers and friends for material with the intentions of creating a range of site-specific content that speaks to their aesthetic interests. Each individual was assigned to capture moments of architecture that took the form of color or contrast their surroundings. Once presented with these photo references, I found myself responding visually to the content, following each with sketches and the manipulation of color, temperature, and flatness. These preliminary steps have ultimately structured my decision-making through repurposing each composition. My studio practice has developed as a space in which I can further analyze and appreciate the places we call home.

Jazmine Mclaurin

Posted on January 27, 2021April 16, 2021 by Ben Weathers

Meat Locker

Meat Locker serves as an extension of personal experiences with mental processes and examining internal struggle. The crude piece features the calamity of vital organic structure in a brash and openly violent spread, capturing the utter confusion and abrasion of the endless battle against chronic depression. For years, I’ve been obsessed with knowing if I had tried enough during my time, or if there is truly something more to how I act, socialize, and think. The work not only showcases an inside view of what I face with each passing hour, but it is meant to become a part of the audience, to see that these struggles are common. I am enthralled by the study of organic systems and bodily function, and how that may shape one’s personality and view. Using non-traditional materials and experimentation, this piece reignites the meaning of spontaneous progress and unplanned result. Meat Locker is inspired by characteristics of the presence of vital organs as well as giving another view of one’s personal experience.

Jake McNamara

Posted on January 27, 2021April 16, 2021 by Ben Weathers

Jake McNamara

CYBERBOND

Cyberbond (2020-2021) is a collection of works that showcases the ever changing emotions and circumstances surrounding my relationship with technology and its overuse and abuse during this pandemic. It follows me throughout my journey and entrapment in the digital realm, eventually leading to my various attempts to escape or cope with my newfound living conditions.

I am experimenting with intersecting my body within interfaces and being physically present within my own works. It is important to maintain this physical connection as I’ve been recently splitting my digital self over so many platforms due to the current circumstances of the world. As a product of the late 90s and a child of the net, I have grown accustomed to the rapid colonization of our digital utopia. I finally realize just how unrecognizable my world has become, how unrecognizable I’ve become. I’ve found myself stretched thin, trapped within the digital realm, a wandering cybernaut, looking for a now lost exit. The works present in this show, much like myself, are ensnared in this world. As such, the sizes and dimensions of these works will vary depending upon the hardware and software used to view them.

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Amalya Singleton

Posted on January 27, 2021April 16, 2021 by Ben Weathers

occhiolism

amalya singleton

my thesis is about self.

environment and I,

people and she,

my piano and me,

–

my chosen mediums of

photography and media

are how I outwardly express feelings

that feel too foreign to show on my person.

–

this body of work represents the feelings space, place, &

people evoke in moments where I’m fully present.

an inwardly explored, outward portrayal.

I create from a place far removed.

a first person and omni-present experience that allows me to be present and in space.

spacey yet aware

–

I have been reteaching myself

feelings that I refuse to feel,

distance that I refuse to close,

relationships that I keep at a distance,

–

my work acts as a mirror.

a space I occupy with others.

a moment that I choose to share.

an action I choose to do.

–

a memory documented.

Benjamin Wilson

Posted on January 27, 2021April 16, 2021 by Ben Weathers

BENJAMIN WILSON

“Some think me a devil, some a lunatic, some an inspired patriot.”

-Charles J. Guiteau

The intent of this series is to explore the rare but deeply impactful phenomena of American Presidential Assassinations, through the lens of painting, drawing, and mixed media work. My occupation with said subject is rooted in my belief that these events perfectly encapsulate the deeply destructive synthesis of American idealism and American tendencies toward violence. Woven throughout these stories I have found themes of idolatry, loss, and the all-too American conception that somehow murder is a solution. Through use of multiple mediums and treatments of form and figure I seek to visually convey the complications of morality and perspective that are so present in this subject. I have also made frequent use of appropriation and adaptation in this series in an attempt to reference and also subvert the historical use of images used.

Images and videos may be clicked to enlarge, feel free to view the accompanying film at any time, or let it play as you scroll

Leon Czolgosz is shooting William McKinley in Buffalo

McKinley’s body slumps, bleeding to the floor as Czolgosz is set upon by the crowd

The President’s body is in the ground now, as several sketches and paintings are done of the event and an “x” is drawn at the point in the floor where the shooting took place and Czolgosz’s body is in the ground now, having been executed at Auburn Prison by way of the electric chair, a device designed by a dentist

The use of the electric chair has been made possible by research funded by Thomas Edison

Hundreds of stray dogs have been electrocuted in the process of experimentation

Less than a year after McKinley is murdered and Czolgosz is murdered, the Edison Manufacturing Company produces a short film reenacting Czolgosz’s execution

What makes something an execution and not just a murder? What makes something an assassination and not just a murder?

Charles Guiteau is finding another hole in his shoe

Charles Guiteau is then getting said shoes shined with money he doesn’t have

Charles Guiteau’s brain is in a jar in Philadelphia and his skeleton is in a drawer in Baltimore

Lee Harvey Oswald is assembling and disassembling his rifle over and over again, sitting on his porch in his underwear

Guiteau is borrowing fifteen dollars from a relative and purchasing a revolver with the express intention of killing James Garfield, he elects to buy one with an ivory handle as opposed to a wood one “on account it would look better in a museum”

The gun is exhibited briefly in the Smithsonian museum, but eventually displaced and never found

The train station where Guiteau shoots Garfield is now the National Gallery of Art

Decades after John Wilkes Booth has died, a house painter known to drunkenly quote Shakespeare poisons himself

He leaves behind a note claiming to be John Wilkes Booth, saying that he has evaded capture for forty years

His mummified body tours America in a sideshow

A Softer, Simpler Time & Place

Website

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Jiaqi Wu

Posted on January 27, 2021April 16, 2021 by Ben Weathers

Jiaqi Wu

Booklet: Afternoons

All Opening Chapter Outside the Window, There's You Looking Through When Light Falls Documentation & Statements

"Booklet: Afternoons - The Opening Chapter"

Spring 2021, soft pastel, 18.5x26.5 inches.

"When Light Falls From Trees""

March 2021, soft pastel, 18x24 inches.

“Orange Flavored Clouds”

November 2020, soft pastel, 9x12 inches.

“See Through Glasses there is a Shaded Garden”

November 2020, soft pastel, 9x12 inches.

"When Light Falls"

February 2021, soft pastel, 18x24 inches.

“A Peak of a Sunny Day”

Summer 2020, soft pastel, 9x12 inches.

"When Light Falls."

October 2020, soft pastel, 9x12 inches.

“When Light Falls...”

2021, soft pastel, 6x9 inches.

“When Light Falls"

January 2021, soft pastel, 6x9 inches.

“Afternoon Sunlight Falls on the Wooden Floor”

November 2020, soft pastel, 9x12 inches.

Drawings In Real Place

Exploring the Healing Element of Light and Nature

I have always found the view outside my window attractive. I translated my thoughts about the current events surrounding quarantine into a series of scenery drawings. During this period of isolation, I developed my first thesis study for my undergraduate exhibition. As an artist I wanted to draw the most memorable moment of my day so that people who saw my drawings could feel the warmth and comfort I felt.

Quarantine time often makes people feel anxious, that is why I want to do something to help people feel better. I suffered with it myself for a period of time, during quarantine . Eventually, I noticed that when I spend time in nature and sunlight it makes me feel safe and confident. When the afternoon sunlight pours in through my window and shines on the wooden floor, with shadows of trees and leaves, me in a way similar to meditating. Through this realization, I was able to achieve a level of self healing. It helped me to get through the situation. In my drawings, I wanted my viewers to feel the same warmth and tranquility. I wanted the audience to feel the comfort that I get when I look outside your window.

I returned to my pictures, looking for elements that could help people feel calm. It turned out that natural lighting and views from outside my window played a big part in those pleasing scenes. I realized that natural elements from outside the home are important to people who spend prolonged periods indoors. The landscapes from outside the home dictates what we see from inside our homes. I would like to study the consequences of building a landscape, and how it could impact people’s feelings. So, my drawings are a study of those elements and the recreation of those scenes and how they heal people. I want my art to be helpful to people. I am interested in the exploration of “Healing art”. Pastel is what I am using. The soft edges and dreamy quality could be a support for archiving my goal.

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Carina Banfitch

Posted on January 27, 2021April 16, 2021 by Ben Weathers

Resonance

Carina Banfitch

Resonance is a collection of process based video and digital paintings. My inspiration comes from nature and psychedelic experiences which I consider sources for mental healing. The sources for a lot of the original paintings were photographs I took of fungi in woods near where I live as well as other natural formations such as snow, ice formations and wasp nests. I made abstract watercolor paintings based on these photographs and digitally collaged them with the original photographs to make kaleidoscopic images. From there I imported the images into an AI program where the AI created its own images. I then stitched the images together to make moving images.

I thought a lot about how mushrooms are made of threads which they use to communicate. I connected that to the fiber optic threads that make digital communication possible. This led me to thinking about the parallels between human and fungi communication and how communication of experiences can heal. My paintings were all made while under the influence of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), or based on visual experiences while on psilocybin mushrooms, LSD and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). I have found that these experiences opened my mind to better communicate not only with others, but more importantly, myself.

Introspection can be hard when we live in a world filled with constant outward stimulation. When viewing my own art, I feel relaxed, entranced, like everything will be alright. Embracing the compositional simplicity of centrality and symmetry, my works center the meditative qualities of making and pleasures of viewing.