The Barney Building, part of the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, is currently hosting several galleries with works created by Steinhardt students.
“Dream:Space,” one of the newest exhibitions featured in the Commons Gallery at the Barney Building, opened on Sept. 18. The gallery offers insight into the subconscious minds of Steinhardt seniors Shanti Flagg, Sara Holburt, Monica Park, Sejin Park and Arielle Stein. Through an assortment of photographs, drawings, paintings, film and mixed media installations, the collaboration brings the abstract visions and personal memories of the artists to life.
The artists were inspired by a previous gallery they produced featuring cave art. The audience is able to explore the different caves within the exhibit to represent how the mind explores its subconscious in a dreamlike state.
“We wanted to expand the installation to a bigger area,” Flagg said. “We sort of expanded on the dream part and [minimized] the cave part due to time and material constraints. I’m still really happy with how everything came out.”
“Mercy Mercy Me” also opened Sept. 18, but it is showing in the Barney Building’s Rosenburg Gallery. The enticing exhibit features Steinhardt sophomores Elaine Jen and Christina Blue.
Blue and Jen work with a variety of mediums but decided that discarded remains of old objects, ready-made materials, paper scraps and pictures the most satisfying for creating their pieces.
The collages ignite the mind on important social topics, and their use of found objects make the vie-wer question the story behind them. Often, Blue focuses on the theme of race in her work.
“I think I try to investigate conversation and perceptions of race because, I mean, of course at the scientific level it doesn’t exist,” Blue said, “but it is a very socially important thing.”
Jen decided she wanted to shift her focus from sculptures and videos.
“I feel like I’ve been taking art a little too seriously the previous year or so, and I kind of wanted to go back to basics and use materials that are more simple,” Jen said.
Both exhibits run until Sept. 29 at the Barney Building, 34 Stuyvesant St.
A version of this story appeared in the Thursday, Sept. 26 print edition. Katherine Marin and Ashlyn Boyles are contributing writers. Email them at [email protected].
