Just a few days after the world tuned in to watch America choose its next commander-in-chief amid a global financial crisis, local artists at Oxnard College interpreted these events the only ways they knew how; through their work.
The exhibition entitled “We’re all in this Together: The Global Financial Crisis and The U.S. Election” officially opened up with a reception by the curators and artists Nov. 5 at the McNish Gallery at Oxnard College.
The exhibit, which features art related to the current political and financial climate, will be on display until Nov. 28. A mix of both student and professional artists’ work are in the exhibit, such as art Professor Christine Morla’s painting titled “Boy with a Gun,” which was originally part of a 2005 series called “Figures in Space.”
Morla says that the paintings were all reinterpretations of real life photographs, and that “Boy with a Gun,” which depicts a young boy holding a gun on his head, came from a picture she found in National Geographic.
“I like to choose works that move me and that are also thought-provoking, as well as have some kind of shock value element to it,” said Morla. Also featured was an experimental video called “Juggler” by Ryan Lamb, which was a recording of the artist himself juggling from four different angles, all edited together to create a ghosting effect.
“I like using video because of the time based quality of it, I started to get into that a long time ago with artwork, trying to figure out how to get a painting to do more than just sort of sit on a wall,” said Lamb.
Also featured was the work of Chris Chinn with the paintings “Curbside Motel” and “Capitalist Casualty,” both of which portray homeless individuals.
According to Co-Curator Monica Furmanski, who is also an instructor of art at Ventura College, choosing a central theme for the exhibit was one that came about with a slight amount of difficulty.
“We thought about the economy, global elements that were occurring, there just happened to be so many things happening in the world that it was kind of difficult to pinpoint one topic,” said Furmanski. “We felt that if we talked about the global crisis and economic situation, it really encompasses so many cultural problems that we need to focus on.”
Tranovich also said that the main title for the exhibit, “We’re all in this Together,” came to her while viewing Chinn’s art on her computer while listening to the BBC News discuss the financial crunch in America.
“We are connected in not just the financial sphere but also as human beings, so really looking at and confronting the homeless issue should be a big part of the discussion,” she said. Tranovich believes that the whole purpose of art, and what she hopes will be the result of the exhibit, is to foster two things: conversation and reinterpretation.
“The purpose of this exhibition is to stimulate discussion about issues that we’re confronting as a nation and as part of the world,” she said. “That is a function of art as well, to make people think.”
