The Museum of Art/WSU is currently staging exhibits of the Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) graduate candidates as they prepare for graduation.
The Museum of Art/WSU presents the work of the 2016 Master of Fine Arts candidates Dani Brooks, Alexandra Dockter, Kayleigh Lang, Nicole Nee, Dylan Steinmetz and Kayla White. Each piece is unique to their thesis, demonstrating the artists’ years of hard work.
Dockter said she likes the idea of being able to communicate a story from a single image and being able to see what’s happening based on visual cues.
“The main overarching theme is a group of people together struggling to survive,” Dockter said. “I’m really interested in that group dynamic of whenever a random assortment of people are presented with a tough situation, there are various responses they can have.”
Dockter created her work using only finger painting.
Lang’s artwork portrays a powerful message that challenges what the male gaze is. She described her exhibit as playful and was inspired by art history and pop culture references.
“When a viewer sees an image and the subject matter is a woman, it’s usually assumed that the viewer [or artist] is a heterosexual male.” Lang said. “It’s usually made for pleasing the eyes of a heterosexual man. You see that a lot in cinema.
“I wanted to make work that subverts the male gaze,” Lang said.
Steinmetz created his work out of everyday trash that he gathered. He is interested in how those objects can help him contain memories and tell a story.
Nee, wrote a story and then produced artwork where she wanted people to be able to experience that story. She wanted her viewers to explore their own issues. Nee describes her pieces and artwork in general, as spiritual.
White created a series of large oil paintings where she uses pots and drawers and would describe her work as colorful.
“I’m dealing with the ideas of containers as the way we think about people and their identities and trying to make ourselves and other people fit into these containers and how people don’t really fit into those, people are multidimensional,” White said.
Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition will be open until Saturday, May 7. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Thursday until 7 p.m.