The “Searching for Truth” faculty art exhibit, featuring “Searching for Truth in a Boatload of Bull” and ”A Play on Color: Interaction of Color,” in the Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery will be on display until Oct. 26.
Lori Neuenfeldt, director of all the Mississippi State University galleries, said a particular piece, “Searching for Truth in a Boatload of Bull” by Linda Seckinger, inspired the name of the gallery. Neuenfeldt noted the weightiness of the piece, and the difficulty distinguishing what is portrayed.
The piece depicts a man sailing a boat through a chaotic sea. In the boat are hefty bulls and, in the waves, are various hidden elements. I found myself lingering in front of the painting for longer than usual, trying to make sense of the chaos.
“Professor Seckinger is thinking about the place we are in our own society today,” Neuenfeldt said. “We are inundated with information, even within our own political banters. The information we are given, we don’t even know what is true anymore.”
Seckinger’s work is the first in sight when entering the gallery, alluding to the transparent nature of the exhibit.
I stole an hour Wednesday to spend time at the exhibit. Adjusted to the cold, polished atmosphere of the academic buildings for morning classes, the quiet, intimate nature of the gallery simultaneously startled and calmed my busy state of mind.
The exhibit has a personal air, each piece distinct from its neighbors in medium and style. However, each work of art is equally enticing. There are electronic watercolors in “Little Things in Life,” by Ginnie Hsu, juxtaposed with the earthy ceramic art like “One Funnel” by Robert Long. I left the gallery with a clear conviction of an artist’s ability to dissect and diagnose the world.
“A Play on Color: Interaction of Color,” an interactive piece in Letterpress by book artist Suzanne Powney, stole most of my attention. The work’s label noted it was meant to be flipped through, but I kept checking the label, reassuring myself I did not misread the direction to touch the book.
Because I usually think of masterpieces as untouchable, this piece challenged me with tangibility. It felt scandalous, handling an original masterpiece, but it also felt like art is supposed to be—raw and relatable.
The book analyzes the relationship of colors to one another. One color was isolated. Then, when the same color was put next to similar colors, it changed the way the color was perceived.
“A Play on Color: Interaction of Color” in Letterpress is included in Columbia University’s and Yale University’s rare book collection, and artist Powney is satisfied with the way her art conveys emotion.
“I had been influenced by Josef Albers’ prints, his theories, colors, and so I reinterpreted them as a letterpress medium,” Powney said. “I wanted to portray how colors influence us emotionally and visually.”
Neuenfeldt, when considering the role of an artists in the world, said artists work in all capacities to search and share truth with the world.
“That is what artists tend to do, no matter if they are thinking about politics, relationships or material objects, they search for a truth, no matter the subject matter,” Neuenfeldt said.
