- Artist: Fengwan Qing, Heidi Fernandez Saavedra, Mark Hertzel, Vega Leonard, Charlie Rosas, JP Gonzales, Quang Tran, Dickson Janda, Roger Ramirez, Sara Pennington, Vale Fragoso, Alejandra Guardado Gochez, Alejandra Uribe, Jennifer Tejada, Scarlet Sidwell, Andy Phillips, Dounya Mouzoon
- Exhibition: Sculpture BFA Group Exhibition (Afterburn)
- Media: Sculpture
- Max L. Gatov Gallery
- School of Art CSU Long Beach
Afterburn is a group exhibition done by a couple undergraduate and graduate students at CSULB. Most of these students have their Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture while the others are working towards their BFA. This exhibition touches on trauma and how pain and discomfort are part of life learning experiences and identity shaping factors.
The sculptures and pieces in this exhibition are different from other art pieces people would normally see because they are a bit more intense. There is a piece showing a “corpse” or a body covered in a black trash bag, taped up to the wall. Another piece is a head with a disfigured face and an open mouth hanging from the wall by a metal wire. Two other appealing pieces include a blue blanket with white clouds on it and sculptures of tiny disfigured bodies and multiple faces. The blanket gives a sense of uneasiness because it has a shape and figure to it sort of as if someone was holding it. The tiny sculptures are also different in the way they look, one of the bigger pieces has about three faces in the torso and the ones beneath it have missing heads or feet.
According to the artists of this exhibition, “Afterburn” is the sensation your body experiences as a result of excess, whether that be an excess of oxygen, pain, or discomfort. The pieces in this gallery reflect the ideas that afterburn, or the sensation that our bodies feel as a result of excess, is a crucial part of our lives because it shapes us into the person one becomes, that is why this exhibition celebrates and welcomes pain and discomfort. We have no control over the things we experience such as pain and trauma and these artists are encouraging that we simply accept the things that happen in our lives because it is part of learning and unlearning.
Overall, the art I saw in this exhibition was truly admiring and once I learned about the idea behind the artists and their thoughts, I was able to resonate with the actual art. The whole idea of “afterburn” made sense to me which is why I have a good connection with the art itself as well as the artists’ perspectives.
abbycal 