Photo by:
The exhibit, The Gleaners: Contemporary Art from the Collection of Sarah and Jim Taylor features works by various artists that were curated by DU students Samantha Carantit, Alexa Coulton, Lindsay Smith and Laurel Wilkey.
“This exhibit is there to show how past art can inspire modern art,” said junior Laurel Wilkey. This is because the artists of the works in this exhibit were inspired by past artists.
The name of the exhibit comes from the painting “The Gleaners” by the artist Jean-Francois Millet. The painting celebrates the marginalized members of French society, who return to the field after the harvest to gather the remnants of wheat for themselves.
In “The Gleaners,” the artists represented harvest traditional aesthetics and themes from past artists to create works of art that represent their identities constructed from current culture.
“[This] is our tribute to what past artists were doing,” said grad-student Lindsay Smith.
The exhibit is part of a project for a museum studies class at the DU School of Art and Art History that is for students who want to work at an art museum in the future.
The student curators met with art collectors from Denver to view a variety of works and select the pieces that would become “The Gleaners.” After much consideration the student curators chose to borrow from the Taylor’s collection. The works included a variety of mediums from acrylic painting on canvas to cast resin and marble dust sculptures.
“There Goes the Neighborhood” by Zoe Charlton and Rick Deloney uses contemporary style in three-dimensional gnome statues on a lawn surrounded by a picket fence to represents the image of the American dream. The gnomes reference black memorabilia and evoke varied reactions from the audience.
“Temple No. 4 (young and old)” by Simmons and Burke presents a modern take on “The Garden of Earthly delights” by master from Netherland Hieronymus Bosch. The piece features collages of images from pop culture incorporating Kevin Federline, Madonna, Burt and Ernie, dancers and unique images to form a tree, heaven and it’s foreground, hell. Various sounds encircle the viewer from speakers to the side of the piece including animal noises, rapping, airplanes flying and bells chiming to complete the dynamic effect.
“[The piece is] a digital collage of images of celebrities, political figures, popular objects and icons from the artist’s childhood,” said Lindsay Smith in her analysis of the piece.
“The purpose of this exhibit is to help people understand contemporary art and help them look at it differently,” Carantit said. “It gives them a new context to appreciate it in.”
The great variety of work on display makes this exhibit a must see and will be on display through March 7. The gallery is open from noon to 4 p.m. daily and admission is free.
