Upon Closer Inspection
Files
Exhibit Dates
January 27 - February 21, 2014
Description
The Reynolds Gallery is pleased to present, Upon Closer Inspection, a group show featuring Pacific alumna Jennie Ottinger and bay area artists: Sandra Ono, Jennifer Brandon and Daniel Nevers. This diverse exhibition is on view January 27 through February 21. A reception for the artists will be held Friday, January 31, from 7:00-9:00 in the gallery. All events are free and open to the public.
"There is a tendency to rush through things, to give everything a quick glance and check it off the list. Most art rewards those who look longer."
Upon Closer Inspection explores what happens when the art explicitly relies on the effects of confusion, ambiguity, and outright deception. Each of the artists works with one or more of these qualities. The show's title relates to each artist's interest in revealing subtleties in common items or situations. Sandra Ono's work investigates the experience of memory and body. She often uses synthetic, mass-produced consumer goods and transforms them using a slow moving, hand made process. Using repetitive gestures she amasses organic and corporeal forms that give physical weight and dimension to different internal states. Ono is drawn to every day materials because she is interested in the macro and micro consequences of what we consume, and inversely, what consumes us. Daniel Nevers uses words in much the same way. Through juxtaposition and repetition, his pieces highlight the formal qualities of text while simultaneously challenging notions of common meaning. Close inspection of Jennifer Brandon's Screening III reveals the subtle effects of the environment on a sculpture and asks us to consider the impact of elements we can't always see. Jennie Ottinger's books play with deception. At first glance they are time-honored classics of literature, but if you handle them, you soon realize they contain terse summaries of the novels giving the viewer a tool to deceive others as well. The work in this show asks the viewer to engage just a bit longer to understand the whole picture. It seems to go against the current trend toward efficiency and immediacy but patience is usually rewarded.
To learn more about the artists and their work, please visit their websites: Jennie Ottinger, Jennifer Brandon, Daniel Nevers, Sandra Ono
Recommended Citation
University of the Pacific, "Upon Closer Inspection" (2014). Reynolds Gallery Exhibits Archive. 57.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/rg-exhibits/57
