Photography exhibit reflects consumer society
By Paula Lavlgne
Senior Reporter
If a picture is worth a thousand
words, then the Sheldon Memorial
Art Gallery is writing a novel.
“Special Collections: The Photo
graphic Order from Pop to Now,”
examines the photographic image and
Pop Art, Conceptualism and Post
Modernism from the 1960s to today.
The exhibit, organized by the In
ternational Center of Photography in
New York City, will be on display
through Nov. 6.
Works by Andy Warhol, Judy
Fiskin, Edward Ruscha, Douglas
Huebler, Bemd and Hilla Becher and
other popular artists make up this ex
hibition of 40 prominent works.
The exhibit is rather surprising be
cause it defies the conventional norm
of how photography may be viewed as
art. The photographs were not de
signed to be aesthetic compositions;
rather, they are a reflection of a con
sumer society.
“One Thousand Signs — along
Lincoln Blvd. looking East. Culver to
Wilshire to Culver, (7:30 a.m.-5:l5
p.m.)” by Robert Flick is a direct
representation of this consumer atti
tude.
From Pizza Hut to McDonalds, the
work depicts signs from almost every
fast-food chain, gas station and con
venient mart known to man.
Sheldon Gallery curator Daphne
Deeds said the exhibit raised three
issues significant to the changes pho
tography had underwent in the past
few decades.
“Special Col lections” addresses the
originality of photography, its evolu
tion and the idea of a consumer in an
age of mass reproduction.
“The artists didn’t look at photog
raphy as a refined art object, but as a
record of reality, as a commonplace
banal event,” Deeds said. “They re
moved the aesthetic properties of yes
teryear.”
Deeds said the artists viewed pho
tographs as a record-keeping, docu
mentary device.
“It questions the nature of original
ity,” she said. “These mass-produced,
easily duplicated images hold no in
trinsic value as a limited printby Ansel
Adams would.”
She said the exhibit looked at pho
tography through mass communica
tion, advertising, billboards, televi
sion and general imagery.
“It is a response to consumerism,”
she said. “Everyone is selling their
wares.”
Deeds said the artists responded to
the world around them.
“48 View Series,” by Arnaud
Maggs, is an incredibly compelling
piece in both size and subject matter.
The work, composed of 162 silver
prints and over 7000 images, mea
sures 32 feet in length and consumes
an entire wall.
Deeds said the viewer is drawn in
by the sheer scale of the piece, but as
he looks closer, he can consider the
work as individual pieces.
“Those individual pieces become
more and more distinct,” she said.
“The mass becomes a series of very
particular portraits.”
She said the experience was simi
lar to encountering a large crowd and
perceiving it as single bodies. Once a
single person is approached and a
conversation takes place, that person
becomes an individual within the
crowd, she said.
“MesVoeux, 1989-90” by Annette
Messager combines art composition
with snapshot photography, as indi
vidual photographs and square of pa
per are dangled from individual strings
attached to the wall.
Many of the works have an almost
high school yearbook-like quality,
such as Christian Boltanski’s “The 62
Members of the Mickey Mouse Club
in 1955.”
The exhibit really defies expecta
tions. It has a very human touch and a
resemblance to old photo albums and
kindergarten class pictures.
Photographs related to newspapers
and magazines give the exhibit a real
sense of time and reality which have
an impact stronger than a thousand
words ever could.
Band
Continued from Page 17
Once they learn this, they work on
perfecting their movements until the
entire process is flawless.
Rose Johnson, administrative as
sistant for the band program, said most
of what happened Saturday morning
involved final details.
“We make sure everybody has what
they need,” Johnson said. “We make
sure everyone has gloves, hats and
pieces of their uniform.”
I
Johnson acts as a liaison between
the band and the athletic department.
As the band lines up to go to the
stadium, she acts as crowd control and
takes careof ripped uniforms, sprained
ankles and other “mom” things.
Although most of the musicians
have been through the procedures be
fore, it’s always hard to take a deep
breath when they enter the stadium,
Johnson said.
“You’ve been through it. You’re
used to it,” she said, “but you still have
that adrenaline rush.”
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Courtesy of International Center of Photograph
“Mas Voeux, 1989-90" a collection of prints, texts and strings by Annette Messager Is part of
the “Special Collections" exhibit on display at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.
Organ group to open concert season
From Staff WoporU _
Lincoln Organ Showcase will
open its 1994-1995 concert series
Sunday with a performance by harp
sichordist Elizabeth Farr.
The concert will be held at 8
p.m. at St. Mark’s on the Campus
Episcopal Church, 1309 R St.
Farr, who is on faculty at the
University of Colorado at Boulder,
will perform such pieces as Picchi’s
“Ballo Alla Polacha” and J.S.
Bach’s “Capriccio on the Depar
ture of a Beloved Brother.”
Others concerts in the series tak
ing place this semester will be:
Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra, a profes
sor at Bethany College in Lindsborg,
Kan., performing Oct. 16 at Sev
enth-Day Adventist Church; Dorthy
de Rooij, professor at the Superior
Conservatory of Music in
Maastricht, Germany, performing
at St. Mark’s on Nov. 20.
Tickets are $7 each, $5 for stu
dents, and are available at the door.
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