Confluence: Where Art and a Graduate Education Meet

by Lesley Stein on Monday, May 14, 2012

Share |

Six talented graduate students with vastly different art practices have come together in this Master of Art show to offer the best of their work. The exhibition and its title, “Confluence,” represent the culmination of the artists’ California State University, Sacramento, Department of Art graduate school experience. It is a moment in time, a marker, where their work, flowing through different channels, comes together. Yet there is no permanence to it, as they will all move on in different directions to pursue individual careers.

Undaunted by four semesters of arduous projects and bristling critiques, long hours with occasionally disappointing results, these emerging artists have proven their stamina and abilities with stunning results. Revealed here is a visual display of talent and courage that clearly expresses a sense of self. The works range from geometric minimalist shapes and organic forms to art that relies on dramatic scale, surprising composition, and inventive colors.

This exhibition exposes much more than line, color and form. “Confluence” engages the viewer in a rich narrative of thought, emotion, and creativity, executed through a wide range of styles, mediums and expressions. Erik Castellanos paints with oil in a small format while exploring two and three-dimensional planes in an abstract approach to portraits and assemblages. Digital photographer and filmmaker Laura DeAngelis focuses on relationships, restraint and freedom, while interacting as a figure in space. Jillian Haas’s quixotic abstract sculptures use atoms as building blocks via a unique mix of copper, pvc piping, resin, epoxy and woods. Jeremy Jordan, a mixed media artist, sculpts primarily in steam-bent wood with refinement and elegance, manipulating the wood into large-scale organic forms. Mehran Mesbah’s large-scale oil paintings on birch panels, adroitly examine cultural ideologies through strategic disjunctions. Leslie Philpott’s poetically expressive style is applied to reinterpreted landscapes painted with acrylics in a large format.

Key to this exhibition’s success is the artists’ sense of camaraderie forged through the shared journey of graduate school. Motivated by a desire for a path to self-discovery, the students were constantly challenged by the art faculty to explore their limits. The end result is articulated in this extraordinary group show of professional works of art. The confluence of their art and graduate education is celebrated in this remarkable exhibition.

The exhibition runs May 11-31, 2012 at the Library Annex Gallery, California State University, Sacramento.