The Campus Chronicle

Volume 2, No. 27
May 31, 2002

"Boys of Water" by Qing Lui is one of the pieces in "Second Nature," on display through June 2 at the Downtown Athletic Club.

Nature’s bounty

By Ally Jackson

M.F.A. painting candidate Qing Liu’s thesis exhibition "Second Nature," on display at the Downtown Athletic Club, 1 E. Broughton St. through June 2, illustrates nature of the human kind.

In a search for the boundaries between nature, poetry and culture, Lui explores earnest affection, curiosity, sensitivity and a saturation of color.

The exhibition explores a youthful sensibility about playfulness and discovery while the color palette explores the matter of mood. Quite successfully, Lui determines saccharine hues are best-suited to the theme and sticks to bubblegum pinks and dreamy sky blues.

In her second exhibition in four months, she shows that the memories that fuel all her paintings are a well-tapped resource for inspiration, making even better works of art.

In Alexander Hall Gallery, 668 Indian St., Simone Costa exhibits nature with the botanical realm in mind.

Her photography thesis exhibition "Spiritual Nature," on display through June 4, explores the basis of alchemy being a study of changing matter and mind. To further punctuate the idea of transformation, Costa breaks the photographs into a grid of 16, forming five large-scale pieces. Visually, the piece is broken down and can be reassembled by way of perspective.

The execution of this exhibition is noteworthy as well as impressive, even despite the mystical details that can be difficult to understand at moments, the physical reality of the photographs are a definitive delight.

Tall drink of painting
Also in Alexander Hall Gallery is Hsiu-Li Huang’s painting thesis exhibition, "Aquacade" through June 5.

This exhibition consists of 18 strong pieces in which the mixed media baffles and invites the viewer. Once the viewer has them in sight, curiosity is inevitable. A closer inspection and ethereal titles of the large-scale paintings adds definition to the work.

Surface quality and media application are two areas where this painting student seems to excel; the use of the fibrous ground on the wooden structure in the large-scale pieces adds a Western flair to the technically proficient Eastern style.