A Voyage Through an Alternate Reality of the Art Building Hallway

SEATTLE, WA – January 31, 2014/ - In collaboration with Candy Coated, an interdisciplinary artist from Philadelphia, a students/artist installation was commissioned to take place in the hallway outside the University of Washington Art Library. Art students from Issues and Influences in Contemporary Art class were asked to prepare cutouts of units in patterns and plant them along the hallway.

At first, some students were somewhat perplexed about what they “should” be doing exactly. Once they overcame that mental barrier, they started to let their sheer curiosity and experimental vigor overtake them. Very soon, the once banal hallway was transformed into a visually stimulating and inviting environment that covered with an organic sprawl of colors and patterns. As soon as the viewers enter the art building, the flowing stream of patterns and colors would instantly carry them along the hallway. During their voyage through the hallway, they would see those cutout pieces that seem to grow without boundaries, like a beating heart, which symbolizes life and continuity. The time-based aspect of the installation, in which the viewer has to take time walking through the installation, can be illustrated in Sarah Morris’s Chimera, which is an installation of origami-inspired paintings on the walls. In contrast to traditional framed paintings, the viewer has to walk through Morris’s installation in order to experience the entire artwork.

The dazzling composition of various colors, such as pink, green, and even black, plays a significant role in creating an illusion of three-dimensionality. In particular, the students’ manipulation of the black tape forms curvy trails and helps accentuate other paper cutouts against the smooth white walls, which creates an illusion of depth. Likewise, the relationship between color compositions and the surrounding space is central to Jessica Stockholder’s artworks as well, which she composes her installations through a painter’s eyes.

The wide array of shapes, such as unicorns, hearts, and butterflies, grow out from the plain white surface of the walls and spread over to the ceiling. The organic nature of this installation resembles Matthew Ritchie’s The Family Farm. In his work, he incorporates paintings and drawings of trees and organic lines that spread cross the walls and the floor. Also, the students’ interaction with existing objects and areas, including the fire extinguisher and the water fountain, represents the organic nature of this installation.

Through Candy Coated’s facilitation and the participating students’ own art making, this art installation enables those students to explore an alternate reality of their shared space and engages the viewers to see the everyday environment (hallways lined with white walls and bulletin boards) in a different light, which reflects what Richard Serra, a renowned contemporary artist, once said, “Art fulfills each of us what we lack.”

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