Familiar and New: Highlights from the Art Department Permanent Collection

Intimate, subtle, powerful. With their use of lines and expressive contour marks, these artists convey the quiet strength, rawness, and beauty of the human body.

What words might you use to describe these figures and their poses?

These figures are built on the familiar foundation of the human form. However, through the artists' creativity and use of shape, they are made into something new, a being that is only partly human.

Which being(s) do you gravitate towards?

A fleeting moment of feeling to a long dead-pan stare. Artists often capture facial expression through the use of value by creating areas of light and shadow on the face to convey a spectrum of emotions.

Can you describe the emotions you see represented in these artworks?

These artists have created narrative-rich scenes with various anchor points for the eyes to settle upon. The artistic choice to employ linear perspective accentuates the subtle, detailed imagery in the artworks, and compels the viewers to draw inspiration from these places.

What stories can you unlock within these views of spaces and locales?

Artists often call upon their own memories for inspiration. Perhaps as reminders of simpler times, these artworks reference childhood curiosity and innocence by evoking comforting feelings through the use of textures familiar to the touch.

What memories do you hold that might resonate with these artworks?

Through composition and color, these artists transform their materials into imaginary landscapes. These artworks entice the viewer to ponder the world of dreams and other unseeable forces that bend reality and radiate from the mind.

Which dream-like landscape would you step into and why?