“A Mysterious Charity,” a painting exhibition, is on display in the Gaddis Geeslin Gallery inside Art Building F.
Last Thursday, students and faculty gathered in the Gaddis Geeslin Gallery for the “Mysterious Charity” reception from 5 to 7 p.m.
The exhibition encompasses a variety of landscape paintings by Ray Burggraf, Mark Messersmith and Lilian Garcia-Roig. All three painters are currently teaching painting classes at the Florida State University.
Ray Burggraf displays his acrylics on shaped wood with aluminum supports. In his artist statement Burggraf said, “My work is primarily about the ever changing light, atmosphere and ocean in the southern latitudes and the abstract colors and shapes of the tropics.”
Burggraf, who attended the reception on Thursday evening, advised students, “It’s a good thing to follow your dreams and to learn to make art, but it is hard work. It may look easy but it’s not.”
Mark Messersmith shows off his large scale realistic landscapes that have boxes attached to the bottom of the canvases with carvings and figures inside.
According to Messersmith’s artist statement, “They are painted realistically with deft brushwork in lush oil describing a landscape still dominated by animals and plants trying to survive.”
Junior art major Amanda Sparks said, “I think it’s great that the art department brings in traveling artists. It is nice to see art work from outside of Texas.”
Lilian Garcia-Roig exhibits her thick oil painted landscapes that she works on in an actual forest setting. Her statement said, “In this work, the viewer feels surrounded by foliage even when viewing the paintings from a distance.”
Garcia-Roig is known for squeezing painting directly from the tube on to the painting, causing intense texture.
Brian Benfer, ceramics professor, talked about the show, “It’s a really good overview painting, with three different styles and three different ways of portraying paint.”
Burggraf also added that viewer can easily see the “friction” between the three different personalities in this show and the very different but well-polished technical skill of all the artists.
“A Mysterious Charity” will be on display until March 9. The next exhibition will be the 7th Annual Juried Student Show from April 3 to April 27.