 "Photo: Photo by Brigette Maxfield")
 "Photo: Brigette Maxfield")
 "Photo: Brigette Maxfield")
 "Photo: Brigette Maxfield")
The Art Gallery at UWF is hosting “His and Hers,” an exhibition of artwork by Kristin and Alan Skees. The married artists, each with a unique style and medium, chose to present their respective installments collaboratively.
As artists, the Skees work independently, but some of the themes and concepts in their works complement one another’s.
The exhibition “explores, through digital drawing and photography, the personal versus the political, the private versus the public, and examines how these issues relate to gender as a defining point of the self,” gallery director Amy Bowman said in a press release.
Kristin Skees, a co-director of the artists’ organization Plugged Art Collective, created “The American Cozy Portrait Series,” which consists of 13 photos of people. What makes these photographs unique is that each person is wearing a “cozy,” a sock-shaped garment made of sweater material that covers all but the subject’s lower legs and feet.
The subjects are photographed in their own environment, sometimes their home, and although much of the physical qualities of the person is hidden from
from view, their inner character can be determined through their physical environment, pose and belongings.
“The cozy is simultaneously a form of comfort and suppression,” Kristin wrote in her artist statement on her exhibition card, a handout that lists the titles and her interpretation of her work.
Alan Skees, adjunct professor of digital arts and new media at the University of Montevallo, created “Elite Soldiers.” This collection of digital drawings, pasted on the wall with glossy adhesive vinyl, combines images of soldiers at war, with dialogue boxes that contain what Alan calls “cryptic gamer language.”
Alan obtained the images from a Department of Defense training manual and an online children's coloring book on the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Web site.
As a gamer, he is familiar with the language used in interactive online games, and he added it to cartoon-like images in order to “parody the gamer's view of war as a fun and harmless pastime,” Alan wrote in his artist statement.
The black shade of Alan's pieces, in contrast to the bright white wall upon which they rest, demands the beholder's attention, as if to say “you're going to look at me.” While Kristin's portraits offer bursts of color that subtly invite observers to have a closer look.
“Once you start peeling away the layers, you find that Alan is really subverting and dealing with the notions of masculinity and Kristin is exploring identity issues,” Bowman said. “And both are concerned with how these gender and identity issues relate on a broader scale.”
Opening night was Feb. 18, and this exhibit will continue through March 5 at the Center for Fine and Performing Arts.
Be the first to comment on this article!