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daily nebraskan
friday, January 23,1981
Exhibition contributes to art professors' vitality
Review By Penelope M. Smith
UNL students and members of the community will
have the opportunity to see what faculty members con
sider some of their best works over the past year at the
Sheldon Gallery Art Faculty Exhibit.
The exhibit, at one time a biennial affair, is now an
annual event. Faculty members are expected to exhibit
in regional shows and competitions throughout the year,
but this is an opportunity to show their work in their
own environment.
"It's generally expected for our faculty to exhibit
regularly," said Dan Howard, chairman of the art de
partment. "Here at our annual show, we depict the cur
rent efforts of the studio art faculty in their individual
creative activities."
Howard explained teaching studio classes can be
taxing, and that such exhibits contribute to the contin
uing vitality of the professors as artists. In turn, they act
as food for thought for student artists of the university
and community, he said.
"It is vitally important for our studio faculty to con
tinue to do work in their own field of endeavor, to keep
themselves at the cutting edge of the discipline, but it also
has vital pedagogical implications. We have to show that
we practice what we teach and teach what we practice,"
Howard said.
Considering art department
The exhibit also is a good place, Howard said, for art
students in the department and those wondering what the
UNL art program is about.
"The exhibit gives the student a keener understanding
as to what the department is about. It clarifies our atti
tudes and orientation," Howard said.
In UNL's case, Howard said, an exhibit that illustrates
the art faculty's orientation is of special importance be
cause the university offers a master's of fine arts- the
terminal degree for a studio artist. In the graduate pro
gram, the artist emphasizes his own performance and
production while the faculty serves as a guide.
Howard said he believes because of the nature of their
profession, that the art faculty has an advantage other
UNL departments don't.
"The exhibit isn't like a paper or a thesis. We have a
tangible way to put our best foot forward before the pub
lic because works of art are visible and visual. It's an ad
vantage and a responsibility. We consider it incumbent
upon us to be both productive and to support the pro
gram in order to facilitate the quality of curricular offer
ings," he said.
Almost every medium
The pieces in the faculty art exhibit represent almost
every possible medium and there is something in it for
everyone.
Patrick Rowan, a sculptor, has a number of very large
pieces in the show. Most interesting among these is "Lake
Effect Installation No. 1," a instruction of wooden
limbs on braces which extend the length of the walkover
at Sheldon.
David F. Routon is an artist who uses oil emphasizing
areas of color and the expressive quality of line. His "Por
trait of Barbara Hopkins" is a study in red oranges with a
feeling of unrest echoed in the angry set of the mouth.
The exhibition pieces by Lynn Soloway mainly are
pastels with a brooding romanticism and classical themes
like "Obcron's Titania."
Doug Ross has both pastels and constructions in the
show of welded and painted steel reminiscent of Kandin
sky. Gail Butt is a painter whose series of large paintings
of solid objects floating in a wet, almost frozen haze are
accompanied by poetry.
Continued on Page 9
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Photo by Mitch Hrdlicka
Foreign film about homosexuals will upset some
By Pete Schmitz
The French-Italian production of La Cage Aux Folks
(Birds Of A Feather), released last year, has become the
largest grossing foreign film in America. This is quite sur
prising since its heroes are a middle-aged homosexual
couple that has lived together for 20 years.
Unlike most other pictures dealing with homosexual
ity, which homosexuals either love or hate, this movie has
polarized homosexuals who have seen it.
n
In many ways, this comedy is refreshingly ahead of its
time, as it deals with the problems homosexuals have had
with aging, long-term commitments and children from
heterosexual relationships.
The balding and temperamental Zaza is afraid that
his better looking lover, Renato, will leave him for some
one else. While Renate often finds his partner hard to tol
erate, he sticks with him because Zaza makes him laugh,
and because he owns 80 percent of their thriving night
club. Complications
The comedy centers on the complications that occur
when Renato's son Laurent becomes engaged to the
daughter of the Deputy of Moral Order. After a lot of
deliberation and some hurt feelings (with a delightful
twist of the Oedipal theme), Renato and Zaza submit to
Laurent's request to play it straight when the prospective
in-laws come for a visit.
But the real difficulty, and most of the film's funniest
scenes, emerge when the couple practices at being macho
and when Renato seeks the help of his son's sexually
aggressive mother, who has not been seen since the son
was an infant.
Some will inevitably be upset by the portrayal of the
couple. Yet criticism of this kind of non-exploitative
stereotyping ignores the truth that certain stereotypes are
grounded in.
Accept lifestyle
As the film progresses, Zaza and Renato realize they
should accept the life-style and mannerisms that they
chose. The most revealing aspect of this story occurs
when Renato, the supposedly "masculine" partner,
discovers he is not free from vanity, "feminine" affecta
tions, and emotional outbursts. And, ironically, it is the
seemingly self-centered and scatter-brained Zaza who
wards off disaster.
The novelty of this movie is one of its strongest points,
because in the end this domestic comedy amounts to an
"I Love Lucy In Drag." Although both men discover
hidden aspects of their personalities, the film ends with
Zaza whining to Renato in a daffy fury that reminds one
of Lucy and Ricky.
The first sequence is also disturbing. Zaza, in a state of
sulky depression, teases and provokes his lover into hitting
him, thus perpetuating the myth of the feminine partner
who asks to be slapped around once in a while.
Serrault (Zaza), and Benny Luke (as the couple's black
"maid," who grudgingly and hilariously sings spirituals
while preparing for the arrival of the in-laws) are all
superb. The one performance that was under par, how
ever, was Remi Laurent's portrayal of Laurent. He is so
cold and demanding that one finds it hard to believe his
parents were Renanato and Zaza. Throughout the movie I
wondered why this couple had gone through so much
bother for the stuffy brat.
When all is said and done, La Cage Aux Folles will
probably be forgotten and even ruined by forthcoming
sequels (one has just been released and the story is set in
an espionage-spy genre). It certainly won't be admired
by all homosexuals and their sympathizers. But as flawed
as the film may be, it should be seen and studied so that
in the future we will have better movies dealing with the
lives of homosexuals.
Superb performances La Cage Aux Folles is showing this Friday, Saturday
The performances of Ugo Tognazzi (Renato), Michel and Sunday at the Sheldon Film Theater.
Fans ready for 'Super Watt
h'
I think I am going to hire somebody to watch the
Super Bowl for me. I realize I should watch the game my
self, that I have a responsibility as an American to watch
not only the game, but the 30 or 40 hours of pregame
programming that accompanies it. The fact of the matter
is, I just don't have the stamina or the interest to watch.
Ir
M dark
When the year started, I thought, even vowed, that
this was the year when I would watch the Super Bowl. I
went into training.
First I went in for a medical examination. My doctor
was less than enthusiastic about my decision to watch the
game:
"Kid, I know I can't stop you from going through with
this idea of yours " said my doctor as he checked my
blood pressure, "but I don't think you fully realize what
you are getting into. What kind of exercise program have
you been following?"
"You mean jogging, lifting weights, that kind of
stuff?"
"No, for heaven's sake, no!" said my doctor. "That's
the worst thing you can do. These people who watch the
Super Bowl and all of the fanfare that goes with it are
highly specialized, exceptional physical specimens. They
can at in reclining chairs for eight to 12 hours nonstop,
blinking no more than thrice an hour as they stare at the
television set. They did not get so unconsciously, termin
ally shiftless overnight. This is something they have been
building up to since the preseason exhibition games. No,
if you are going to carry off your plan to watch this
game, you're going to have to learn how to minimize your
desire to move. Weightlifting, jogging, basketball and the
uke are out, starting right now."
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