Illinois State University Wonsook Kim School of Art presents Verdancies, the second exhibition featured at the new Illinois State University student art gallery within the Central Illinois Regional Airport (CIRA), located across from the main entryway inside the terminal building at 3201 E. Empire St., Bloomington. Verdancies opens Tuesday, January 14, with an exhibition reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Gallery hours are consistent with the operating hours of the airport. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.
Organized and curated by Arianna Garcia, a senior Bachelor of Fine Arts student studying painting and art education, Verdancies features work by four student artists currently studying at Illinois State and explores the complexities that surface when one truly discerns the greenness of something.
Green is go. Green is safety. Green is healthy. Green is greed. Green is wealth. Green is nature. Green is youth. Green is toxicity. Green is blue. Green is yellow. Green is fake. Green is real. Green is passive. Green is active. Green is overlooked. Green is noticed.
“As a collective, we make green mean everything, which in turn causes it to mean nothing,” the artists state. “We place expectations on green and design parameters for it, and we expect it to perform for us willingly, seemingly ‘untampered’ with. Nevertheless, we generally divert our attention elsewhere, dusting it into the corner; casting it backstage to our theatrics. We do not take the time to solely appreciate the greenness of a thing; usually the noun precedes the adjective. We recognize and manipulate green, but we do not simply observe it and we especially do not acknowledge our own collective manipulation. We simultaneously give and take away its agency, rendering it as a gimmick or an accessory rather than a verdancy.”
Instead of color competing for subjectivity, the artists bring it front and center, creating an enveloping environment in which the viewer is compelled to recognize and observe green as an active agent that finally accomplishes the limelight.
The featured artists are Hannah Songer, a senior Bachelor of Fine Arts student studying painting; Emily Minton, a senior Bachelor of Fine Arts student studying painting and art education; Neva Taylor, a junior studying studio art; and Guste Savukynaite, a junior Bachelor of Fine Arts student studying painting and art education.
In this show, Songer’s work emphasizes the greenness of a landscape and blurs the lines between body and vegetation; Minton’s work takes a humorous vantage point in the discussion of green in pop culture and contemporary society; Taylor’s work critiques the deceitful side of green pigments that have been and are still used throughout human history; and Savukynaite’s work highlights the relationship, or lack thereof, of human intervention in a neglected landscape.
For more information or to arrange a special accommodation, please contact Wonsook Kim School of Art at (309) 438-5622. Follow the Wonsook Kim School of Art on Facebook.
