JUROR'S STATEMENT | 44th ANNUAL JURIED UW STUDENT EXHIBITION

Louise Martorano, Guest Juror

Executive and Artistic Director at RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver, CO

February 2019

Comprised of over 60 works and representative of 33 unique material applications, the 44th Annual Juried Student Exhibition surveys the ever-expanding field of contemporary arts practice explored by the student body.  The territory of different media stretches from acrylic to aluminum bottles, charcoal to porcelain, cardboard to Adobe Illustrator, but each work demonstrates a personal alignment between form and content in service to new and emerging aesthetic ideas. 

Though not one specific idea, theme, or practice unites this exhibition, many of the selected works offer the viewer a critique of the present or signals a nostalgic past. Garrett Cruzan's “Autobiographical Fiction” reminds us of the vulnerability of the truth by applying impenetrable layers of acrylic to veil the identity of each form crowded within his frame. He offers a metaphor for our constant interface with screens, how contrived realities flood our field of vision, and the truth hovers in the shadows of misinformation. Alternatively, Jacey Hays offers viewers an escape to simpler times with the use of Black & White Photography and the sentimentality it provokes.