Bethany Minervino , a senior in art and design, considers herself a shy and introverted person, using self-portraits to break out of her shell. However, her portraits are making bold gestures, and her work, Bedhead , hangs across the gallery from the dark and famous portraits of Rembrandt.
The North Carolina Museum of Art now hosts the Self, Observed project as the first exhibit in the museum featuring pieces created by artists from colleges around the country. Students of a curatorial projects class at UNC-CH chose all the artists featured at the museum.
Artists were free to express themselves in any way they chose through self-portraits that push mediums and take inspiration from Rembrandt’s attention to detail. Three N.C . State students got involved in this project and each have their own story to tell audiences. This presented them with a set of unique challenges.
“Self-portraits are some of the most difficult to achieve for a lot of reasons because first of all, our sense of self is never concrete we’re always changing as people,” Minervino said. “You [also] want to put your best foot forward and you want say certain things that you believe to be true about yourself or you say things that you want people to believe are true about yourself.”
However, despite the challenge, more than 160 students submitted their work.
“I think it’s great…[the exhibit has] a really diverse group of works here,” Vallyn Murphy, a senior in art and design, said. ”I think it’s wonderful to see college age people making an effort to make artwork.”
Murphy’s piece–a silhouette of herself sporting red shutter shades with glowing stars painted on her, captures her sense of fun and patriotism.
“I want my art to be as fun as it is to create,” Murphy said. “Whenever I make something, I’m only really making it to either study something or to just have fun. I was studying lighting and I used a new type of fluorescent paint and a new kind of incandescent bulb to shoot that and I thought that if I’m going to paint something on myself…it’d be more than smears. I’m a very patriotic person.”
Minervino chose to highlight a different aspect of herself and the joys of life. Bedhead is a comical look at her wacky side.
“I’ve always been a shy and introverted person. It is not a side that anyone sees of me, that disheveled, wacky sort of a person, because I tend to keep that under-wraps most of the time.” Minervino said. “I want to take myself and be able to laugh at myself because I believe that’s part of the enjoyment of life.”
Davis Choun , a freshman in design studies, interpreted the Self, Observed project differently and forged his own direction. Through his piece: Detainment #4, he hopes to remind society of those that may not have as much of a voice.
“I wanted to make something very striking, something that will grab someone’s attention,” Choun said. “I [wanted] to put a little social commentary in it. [Something] you can relate to something that’s happening today.”
The Self, Observed project will run until Jan. 22, 2012, but it is already having a great impact on many people who visit the N.C . Art Museum.
“To have [the artists] be able to share with us their thoughts and how they progress in their own artistic progression is just amazing,” Tyler Freedman, a visitor and art student at Johnston County Community College, said.
“You can just see how amazingly talented [the artists] are.” Troy Lester, another visitor said.
