Spring Break
Artist brings art to digital age
Gregory Westcott
Issue date: 11/12/08 Section: Features
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One such artist is Melanie Brown, a senior studio art major whose show, "Alucinor Conligo," was displayed in the Witt Gallery from Nov. 3 to Friday.
"Alucinor Conligo" is Latin and basically means "dream collected." That's exactly what the show represents, which Brown says is shown through her physical abstraction.
Brown's 20-piece collection resembles leftover pieces from a science lab. Transparencies, test tubes, wires and clipboards all highlight art with an anatomical theme. However, there is a sense that Dali crashed da Vinci's party with layers of abstraction and floating body parts.
"I like the really old-like Leonardo da Vinci and really early medical drawings," Brown said. "I see them as kind of an exploration of the human body and everything that they represent, like the actual anatomy; but they also represent the search for truth. Early on, they were searching for truth."
Most of the collection was created on a computer using the program Adobe Photoshop.
Brown said she finds inspiration from retro-technology by studying artists like da Vinci who incorporated his art with science.
"I get my inspiration from the actual drawings themselves. Most of it's serendipitous. It's putting together different layers to create something that feels right," she said. "Often times it'll be a theme or a concept. Lately I get into things like beauty and fairy tales - things like that."
Layers are a major component of Brown's collection. Sheets of digitally printed transparencies hang on the wall, layered on clipboards that seem to encourage you to turn the page. Just make sure the Velcro that holds the art doesn't give out.
The gallery also contained one treasure that most artists don't have the luxury of: Support from an identical twin sister. Amelia Brown, who graduated from Sacramento State with a degree in English, recognized that her sister's art has been passed down from a family member.
"Our father is a good artist, but he never really took it anywhere so Melanie is kind of following in his footsteps," Amelia said. "She'll be all, 'I need a self portrait, let me take a picture of you.'"
When asked about the inclusion of her face in Melanie's self portrait, Amelia had to come to grips with an artistic exploitation of her identical features.
"I thought it was a little weird having our face displayed, but it is her face," Amelia said.
The Brown sisters had to get creative when displaying the collection. The accidental convenience of a ladder turned into a work of art from which three pieces hang from.
The combination of metal wires and metal ladder compliment the scientific art, but is contradicted by the body parts and shocking use of deep colors.
Brown attributes her artistic beginning from taking Art 97 with professor Rachel Clarke, who noticed the talent hidden behind a self portrait project.
When asked what caught her attention, Clarke noted that Brown showed characteristics that stood out. Clarke said that the way Brown combines abstraction and figuration has always impressed her.
"I liked the way she was layering images, patterns and textures, and also layering meanings," Clarke said. "She has been exploring this idea of the body turned inside and out, exposing the interior and revealing it on the surface. It speaks of life and death and the reality of our existence."
Clarke's favorite piece of Brown's was a class project that illustrates how multimedia can be used as a new and viable art form.
Clarke went on to explore Brown's inspiration and use of having an identical twin to support her art.
"Her work starts with her experience, and works its way out to address more universal questions," Clarke said.
The future seems to be primed for Brown, who hopes to harness technology as it grows into her own thirst for the medium. For Brown this means moving on to graduate school.
"The ideas and processes are always evolving. There is a lot of potential there and she is always curious to explore deeper," Clarke said.
Gregory Westcott can be reached at gwestcott@statehornet.com
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