8 - Friday, November 2, 2007
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
AGREENER e o
_ State Street's gallery
By MAUREEN SULLIVAN
Daily Arts Writer
Going green. Green-eyed monster.
Greenbacks. Green thumb. Green
around the gills. It's not easy being
green.
The color green T
has infinite enten- The Green
dres and meanings. Show
More than a color,
green is positive Work Gallery
and negative - it's Throagh
a feeling, a lifestyle Free r
and a pop-culture F
catchphrase that is
socially relevant. In a fitting and fasci-
nating exhibition at the Work Gallery
on State Street, students in the School
of Art and Design explored the vast
and varying associations of the color.
The pieces in this exhibit are as
diverse as the color's definitions. They
are serene and nature based. They
are alarming and political. They are
understated and overpowering. The
color green pervades the quaint gal-
lery space, providing a mood that
shifts as often visitors changes their
object of focus.
OBY ROEMGRIN Daly The association of green with
omes fully loaded nature is inescapable, and many of the
pieces tie into that with serene photos
of green fruits and plants, leaves sewn
together and placed upon a ledge and a
sculpture carved from cherry wood in
the form of a bouquet. There is a focus
on the organic beauty of growth.
There's also a common theme of
double meaning to the exhibit. UM,
REPHRASE. For example, toysoldiers
are linked together to form a peace
sign in a work titled "War and Peace."
Another work plays with optical illu-
sion and the properties of the color
green. On a black background, green is
spelled out in bold letters with smaller
associated words surrounding it, the
words written in red. Looking away,
however,-the viewer, for a split second,
sees the words in green against the
white wall.
Since green alsois closely tied with
the American dollar, one section of
the exhibit is actually made up of stu-
dents' interpretations of a more ideal
currency. These works are political,
challenging American capitalism.
In the gallery's lower level, along
with several pieces, there sits a chair
facing a projection wall where multi-
mediaprojects are constantlyrunning.
Visitors are drawn to take a seat and
absorb the pieces that further explore
the meaningbehind the complex word
green. The short pieces are also avail-
able for viewing on the website play-
gallery.org and are aired in shorts on
Michigan Television and Michigan
Channel. In our YouTube obsessed
culture, the website makes it possible
for a different audience to experience
art they may not have taken the time
to see by "momentarily transforming
television and the internet into gal-
lery space." The site is a creative and
collaborative project from the Art and
Design School and Michigan Public
Media.
Other works contain full stimula-
tion of the senses in terms of sound,
sight and feeling. They invite visitors
physically within the green spaces.
One, titled "Feeling Green," is a simple
green felt enclosed area askingvisitors
to step inside and then write down
how they feel, placing their response
in an adjacent box. The exhibit con-
tains an excellent balance between
works that are interactive and those
that are more traditional playing with
expectations to provide anexhibitthat
truly invites thought.
The Green Show is creative con-
taining a varied array of "green" art
by talented students at the University.
It's easy to stop into the Work Gallery
between classes or on the weekend, so
no student has an excuse to miss it.
6
There are probably no references to F. Scott Fitzgerald but "The Green Show" at Work (
with metaphor. Sweet, It's on through next Friday.
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