Making their Mark

Friday, May 13, 1994

The Wight Gallery’s newest exhibition of senior undergraduate
art leaves conventional constraints behind ­ offering works of
varying styles with only one common theme: their creators.By
Kathleen Rhames

Daily Bruin Contributor

The seniors are graduating, and this year they want to go out
with a bang.

"It’s like our final statement," says Helen Kim, one of the
soon-to-be graduates. "To be able to do something like this with
colleagues is really fun, like our last little thing with our
fellow seniors."

The event Kim refers to is this year’s UCLA Senior Undergraduate
Art Exhibition being held all this week in the Wight Art Gallery.
The exhibit features the work of senior art students and provides
an open arena for talent, promoting diversity among its
artists.

Unlike art shows of the past, this year’s exhibition was not
juried by a curator. In other words, submission of all pieces was
encouraged, regardless of their differences in style, individual
themes and subject matter. This created an open, intriguing
environment that Kim hopes will entice people to see the show.

"It’s not curated or juried by anyone else," she says. "It’s
what the seniors think that matters. I think trying to leave it
open doesn’t inhibit anyone as far as coming into gallery space
goes. We want there to be fun, relaxing and enjoyable things for
people to come and check out."

The art ranges in style from the strangely abstract to the
beautifully simple, reflecting each artist’s attempt to bring a
little of themselves to the exhibit. One of Kim’s selected works is
a store-bought embroidery piece. It is stitched with nothing more
than some thread and a lot of time-spent effort, but as she sits on
the floor of the gallery with her needle in hand, it is apparent
that Kim takes great pride in her work.

"I have an obsessive-compulsive nature and I think that shows up
a lot in my piece," she explains. "With the stitchery, there’s a
continual repetitive motion; a kind of obsessive activity that
causes the artist or the person who’s doing it to experience a
sense of escapism. It’s a kind of inner-world. It’s very
individual."

Kim believes the diversity of art in the exhibit promotes unity
among the seniors. In an art department that is largely segregated
by the medium one works in, she believes this will be a memorable
way of bringing people together. From performance art to
photography to sculptures, the seniors are eager to show the rest
of UCLA what they can accomplish together.

"This is an opportunity for art students to share with the rest
of the UCLA community that this is what we think is important to
us," says Kim. "Since we’re all graduating seniors, this is a
chance to show our work publicly, which we don’t often get a chance
to do."

One of the most interesting works in the show is an installation
piece painted by Pearl Hsiung. An installation resembles a
sculpture but is actually an environment that the artist creates
into which the viewer can delve.

"You take a room and use it to its fullest," explains
Hsiung.

The installation she created dominates three walls as well as
all the space between them. On each wall hangs a uniquely different
painting, animated with vivid blues, oranges and reds. Each bears a
different meaning, influenced by everyday life experiences. And yet
Hsiung adamantly states her artwork is meant to be interpreted by
the viewer.

"It really has nothing to do with me," she says. "It’s really
about you. You probably know as much about it as I do. I can give
you insights about it but what you see is really what’s there. It’s
supposed to make you happy."

Hsiung stresses her paintings aren’t meant to be viewed
individually but as a "family, as part of the whole room." One,
entitled "Infinite Flight," depicts a circular red-stained canvas
with the head of a girl spinning almost off of the painting. Hsiung
describes it as "zooming into the universe."

"Hopefully, when the room is done, it’ll be almost like
over-stimulation," she says. "That’s what makes people go crazy and
they get lost in it. I think that’s good."

For Hsiung, the chance to be a part of the senior art exhibit
was both a challenge and opportunity for fun. Deep down, she knew
it was a chance she had to take advantage of.

"This is like the last big explosion, especially for a school
like UCLA," she says. "This might be the last chance I have to work
in a room this size so I must use it to its fullest. Art competes
with film, TV and music so I feel like I’m in the realm with the
rest of the main media. I’ve hit the big life!"

The driving force behind Hsiung and all of the senior artists,
however, has to do with just bringing a smile to peoples’ faces,
despite how cliched it sounds. Knowing that your work strikes a
person in a particular way makes everything seem worthwhile.

"Art is really personal," Hsiung feels. "It’s about you, it’s
about me and it’s about celebrating that we can be here together
and share this experience. It’s not so much that I painted this but
that you can enjoy it with me."

ART: UCLA’s Senior Art Exhibition at the Wight Art Gallery until
May 24. Reception for artists, Wed. May 15, 5 to 7 p.m. For more
info call (310) 825-3281

CHRISTINE HUANG

"Crystian," by Joy McKinstry, is latex on plywood.CHRISTINE
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Jim Biello, first-year psychology major, examines "Alternative
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