"Paradoxical" best describes the artworks of Julia Sapir and Jessica Kennedy, two MFA students presenting their thesis exhibitions in Jonson Gallery.
On Friday, Sapir's photography series "Equation" and Kennedy's painting series "Self-Diagnosis" will be on display as part of an opening reception. They will be on display through March 13.
Sapir's juxtaposed diptychs, which adorn the gallery entrance, have a startling effect on the viewer. One of Sapir's photos shows an engagement ring and a dead coyote.
"Visually, they are harmonious," Sapir said. "Content-wise, I was interested that they are so harmonious visually and yet so dissonant in their content. One connotates joy and happiness, marriage, something beautiful. The other one is something violent that represents death. It's grotesque and horrific in the same way."
Sapir studied art history at Brown University and took photography classes at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston before starting UNM's photography
program in fall 2006. She also teaches black and white darkroom photography.
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"There's a really great community here," Sapir said. "(UNM) is also one of the more affordable art schools."
Sapir takes shots with her digital camera, shooting on location or creating scenes in her home. Then, with her photo bank, she looks for pictures that work with each other in an "equation."
"What I am trying to do with these composites is take individual images and put them together to form a sort of narrative," Sapir said. "And the way that they come together is sort of like an equation, bringing different elements together to create something else."
Sapir uses a random barrage of subjects such as green paths, old actresses, the Last Supper and bullet holes, and her work is autobiographical.
"If there's something that draws them all together, I probably have to say it's me and the way I perceive the world around me," Sapir said.
Kennedy's paintings hang in the adjoining rooms. They are bright and multilayered with acrylic and oil paints, giving them a catchy sheen. The paintings are similar to Sapir's photos because multiple images are placed next to each other for greater meaning.
Kennedy, who attended school in Michigan before coming to UNM, has loved painting since she was a child. Once she started attending the University of Michigan, she said she knew she wanted to paint for the rest of her life. Her exhibition is about nature and hypochondria.
"The main content of the work is a simultaneous fear of and reverence for nature and the kind of forces of nature, including our own human bodies, disease. You know, the seemingly random, awful stuff that you can't even see," she said. "That kind of fascinates me and freaks me out at the same time."
She uses acrylics first and finishes with oil paints.
"In an oil painting, the light can sort of enter the painting and vibrate a little bit in the material," Kennedy said. "It doesn't just bounce off. It goes in and creates a soft effect."
Kennedy starts with a base coat and applies a masking film over the base. Then she draws an image over the film and peels if off where she wants the original layer to show. She continues this process until the painting is complete.
"It's just like masking tape if you're painting your room - it's sort of the same idea," Kennedy said.
Many of her paintings feature jellyfish, fish bones and humanoid forms. The piece "Fight or Flight" features orange and blue - warm and cool colors that complement each other and showcase images of nature and disease.
"I chose the title because it describes a kind of innate reaction that exists in humans and animals to a threat," she said. "I see disease as a huge threat, so 'fight or flight.'"
Sapir said both artists' work explores modularity.
"Mine are in these groupings of pictures," Sapir said. "She also does that with her paintings. She'll have a foursome of paintings together. It's about bringing together different images and how they look with one another. There are also differences that don't blend together too much, and they stand apart as two separate shows."
