Senior artists alter worlds
Today and tomorrow are the last days to see “The Altered World,” Patrick Mooney and Conor McGhehey’s senior art thesis show. The duo’s science-fiction inspired show is hanging in the main gallery of Memorial Hall, and it packs stained glass, spiders, and self-reflection into one smorgasbord show.
McGhehey is new to the art field, since the senior changed his direction during college. Originally a physical education major, McGhehey played a fated game of pool with his cousin, Matt Rodell. The results of that discussion left McGhehey examining his unsatisfied feelings toward his major, and it pushed him towards the arts. McGhehey synthesized his love of science-fiction and the internet to produce some diverse work. “Through the Forest,” a set of three alcohol and ink pictures, is reminiscent of vibrant Rorschach ink blots. The fluid shapes conform just enough to be outlined with pen, but retain their free, naturalistic interpretation. His intergalactic pièce de résistance features a lounging woman framed by a startling celestial backdrop. Entitled, “Two Beauties,” this acrylic highlights McGhehey’s compositional talent and eye for color.
His other pieces reveal a different artistic side to McGhehey, where dark subject matter battles with convoluted design. His ink prints, like “Fox and the Crow,” mix an aboriginal taste for pattern with grim shapes to create an edgy design.
Mooney also showed ink prints, one black and white called “Destiny” and a colorful, industrial piece called “The Dream,” and these exemplify Mooney’s penchant for intertwining Celtic knots. This flair gives his work an ancient feel, and they become especially decorative on the low mosaic table he is displaying.
The most interesting aspect of “The Altered World” show, however, isn’t hanging on its walls, but from its ceiling. Five stained glass pieces, ranging from iPad to television-sized, are suspended from the black above. To appreciate the pieces’ full chromatic effects, viewers must walk to the gallery’s rear and see the light from the door shine through their colored panes. Mooney’s large “Trinity” features symbology from the wildly popular fantasy Zelda game series, while McGhehey’s glass shows a futuristic, yet vaguely 1950s ray gun. This piece creates juxtaposition between the refined medium of stained glass, once reserved for cathedral windows, and science-fiction, once frowned upon in academic circles.
This novel subject matter refreshes the college-age gallery-goer, almost as much as Mooney’s delicate symmetry. His stained glass pieces, the triforce piece and another called “Winterveil in Orgrimmar,” both reference fantasy fields, the latter being a World of Warcraft nod. Although they break from traditional stained glass subject matter, like religious iconography, Mooney remains true to the symmetrical art of stained glass. That mentality, the combination of old formats with new subject matter, is at the bionic heart of McGhehey and Mooney’s show. The pair have studied mediums old and new, from computer design to carving wooden blocks, and now they must look to the future.
Tomorrow, Dec. 6, the show closes, and the pair must prepare to leave CSC behind them. Their minds full of ideas and portfolios full of work, the two are going out to alter worlds of their own.