Professors show talent in gallery

The SoFA gallery, located within the School of Fine Arts, currently has on display experimental works of four visiting professors, each specializing in different studio areas. Collaborating to present a diverse face of art to its audience, their work became open to the public Friday and will run for a week. \nVisiting Professor Cristina Gonzalez contributes to the show the traditional taste of oil painting and drawing. According to her profile on the Fine Arts Web site, she creates work that is "figurative and highly personal."\nOn display, she has three paintings from a series of self-portraits. They show the frontal figure of a female placed in different backgrounds; the female is portrayed in traditional "Western-European" style. \nThe third painting in particular, subtitled "La Mantilla," ties in with her ambition to incorporate her cultural heritage with her art, she said. The floral pattern in the background is from a lace veil given to her by her grandmother, originally from Spain. \nThe subtle process of the floral patterns from the wall flowing down to her bare neck reflects her attempt to integrate elements from different cultures, she said. \n"I'm trying to show a Mexican-American perspective in a Western-European culture," she said. "I became aware of my heritage at college, where out of 1,200 students, only 10 to 15 of them came from similar cultural background." \nShe refers to her years at Yale as a period of social and political awareness. \nHer heritage continues to support her "in form of family." She said her pride as a Mexican-American continues to reflect itself in her work. \nVisiting Professor Chuck Jones, a Chicago based artist, said he focuses on humor. In comparison to Gonzalez, he takes on a more modern style.\n"As a media artist, I am interested in the paths that viewers use to access all forms of culture," he said.\nFor example, as part of a series of monsters drawn over pop culture images, Jones drew a monster over an image of George Bush, demonstrating his bluntness and preference for nothing less than "totally direct."\nHe said there is a leeway of interpretations.\n"Sometimes the paths I create towards communication may not be especially easy to follow or may not lead to the places I have suggested," he said.\nHe gets his art philosophy from his professor at University of Illinois, Kerry James Marshall, whom Jones referred to as a genius.\n"You want to go where it almost seems like it's not art," Jones said.\nHis video, 50+1, is made of 51 one-minute clips from movies and documentaries set or shot in each of the 50 states, with an addition of Washington, D.C.\n"My plan for this video is to invite viewers into a dialogue about the United States that isn't about right-wing 'ideas' about patriotism," He said. "[But] instead is about the way America as a place, as a geography, alters the way we think and communicate." \nLike most of his works, he added humor to this video, he said. \n"It's also one of the only videos where you can see Judy Garland get hit in the head moments after a man in an orange dog suit does the worm on top of a tractor," he said. \nHe said he doesn't have one point he wants to get across to his audience. \n"It's also a really funny video, and if that's all you get from it, that's fine," he said. \nHis portfolio can be viewed at his Web site, www.babygorilla.com. \nVisiting Professors Galo Moncayo and Mike Wsol, are faculty members of the sculpture department, and add three dimensionality to the display. \nAccording to the Fine Arts Web site, Moncayo explores technological artifacts in his work. Instead of using them to create "electronic sculpture," he uses them to tie it in with human qualities, creating situations comparable to everyday life. \nThe display will be up at the SoFA gallery until Friday.\n-- Contact staff writer Christine Jane at chrjang@indiana.edu.