So, do you like draw and stuff?

The answer I most often give^

As you all may remember, at some point I ranted about how when I tell people my major is 'studio art' I get asked the most eloquent of questions, "So, do you like draw and stuff?"

The short answer: "Yes."

The long answer: "Well, UTSC does not offer an explicit specialization. You can choose your courses according to your interests and that leads to an approximation of a specialization."

Art Student Owl = WIN

Why am I making this blog all about me? Besides being the centre of the known universe, I am also obligated on behalf of the art community at UTSC to advertise our existence. I would like to announce that next week is EXHIBITION WEEK!

Yes, all those agonizing hours of spilling paint on our pants, inhaling dangerous amounts of fixative spray (which would explain why I see pink bunnies flying a lot), and seeing spots from staring at our screens for too long have accumulated into the project we will be showcasing next week.

Who shall we be spotlighting? Three different classes!

Alexander Irving's VPSD58, Team Blue

Tanya Mars's VPSC56, Team Red

Will Kwan's VPSC69, Team Yellow 

I'll let you guess which course this is for... 

 

Love the name of the show

What to expect? Well, there is a healthy mixture of sculpture, video, drawings and performance pieces. Rumour has it that there is a 'Red Wall', army recruitment posters and even some animation!

Now that I've told you where to find the work, I suspect you might all be wondering if this is worth your time. Well the fact of the matter is that the following video is an art school reality...

Not to say all art critiques are like that but often it can feel like that. There we have that delightful conundrum of 'how not to mortally offend the artist while bring constructively critical'. I'll be honest, it is hard. Us art students put so much time and effort into these pieces, on top of which many deal with personalized subject matter, that we often become blinded by the emotional baggage we carry into the piece. Not to say all work is good or all work is bad but art is so subjective that sometimes you feel like you're about to poke a rabid bear before you speak...

Now that's I've sufficiently scared the living daylights out of you here is a cute cat picture to console you.

Performance piece which manifests the comical nature of the need to transmit one form of kinetic energy to another in sharp contrast to the docile inertia of domesticated animals.

In all seriousness however I would like to point out that everyone has a right to their own opinion. Even if it is in contradiction to the nature of the work that is just a given with art. People are allowed to derive what they see from work. I personally feel the most successful pieces are a source of controversy which force a viewer to think ... Or they could just be really really pretty. Like this:

Gustav Klimt <3

So come out and support us poor starving potential artists!

And so ends the shameless self promotion..

Always stay beautiful <3

Zarish