University of Denver BFA Show, May 2007

• Kimberly Beesley
• Sarah Craig
• Sara Ann Evans
• Kristin Fleischmann
• Elizabeth Fox
• Crystal James
• Lindsay Brooke Smith
• Robyn Speer

Over the last year, I have been consistently impressed with the quality of exhibits at the Victoria H. Myhren Gallery; in fact, fans of RADAR (at the DAM until July 07) were treated to a room full of additional pieces on loan from the Vicki and Kent Logan collection via the Myhren's 2006 "Negotiating Reality" exhibit, among other outstanding shows.

I was not disappointed with the current BFA show on display which features the work of 8 artists, all of whom happen to be women. The show does indeed have a feminine point of view, from Elizabeth Fox's dreamlike video presented in a faux bedroom, to Lindsay Brooke Smith's translucent gown, Kimberly Beesley's meditations on surviving cancer, and Kristen Fleischmann's diatribe on consumerism and the male dominated Fortune 500.

I was entranced by Fox's "I'm Anxious about Barcelona" which invites the viewer to lie down and experience fragments of dreams presented on special video goggles. I was reminded of the Wim Wender's film "Until the End of the World" where one of the characters becomes addicted to watching back their recorded dreams on a special headset; I found myself mesmerized at the mix of black and white vs. color footage, alternating between animated still images and disjointed clips projected back at various speeds. The onslaught of images (trees, windows, children) continually resolves back to either a close-up of an eye in REM or a woman lying on her back tossing in her sleep, reinforcing our voyeuristic role as the dreamer's audience.

Fleischmann's "The Orange Project" is a splendid piece that works on a variety of levels: 8 glass encased rectangular boxes are filled with rotting oranges painted with faces, hanging on 2 walls in a small enclosure with a 3rd wall used for video projection. The dim space highlights a variety of mysterious video clips including a woman's face bobbing up through a sea of milk and oranges, and a cascade of milk streaming down a woman's head and hair.

I spent a bit of time studying and enjoying the piece before I read the artist's statement which informs much about Fleischmann's purpose. The faces painted on the oranges are of top corporate CEOs, and I had to laugh and wonder if the oranges rotting away behind the glass were prescient of future cellmates for our recent crop of corporate felons.  From the statement: "Corporations have power over everything one encounters on a daily basis, from advertisements that flash over televisions to something as simple as an orange."

The show is at the Myhren Gallery at DU until June 8th, and with Sunday hours (12:00 to 4:00 PM) you really have no excuse not to stop by. (click here to see pictures from the show).