Double Feature at Zoller Gallery, examines the work of two artists, LeeAnn Mitchell and Richard Dennis. Featuring two separate works, the exhibit allows the viewer to take an active part in both artists' worlds.
The front of the exhibit features Mitchell's work entitled "Opinion Swing." The piece introduces the viewer to four separate objects surrounded by a wall which is littered with artistic prose. The four objects Mitchell includes are: "Opinion Swing", "Industrial Sludge Pool", "Rolling Angst Cage" and "Frustration Sticks." Each object features a skeleton through which Mitchell attempts to relay her artistic messages.
"I build installations based on moral issues," Mitchell explained in a released statement.
"I use the skeleton form as my narrator. They tend to tread the fine line between the comic and the morose. I have always tried to inject black humor into my work.
The installations appear very chaotic, things out of control with one or two of the central elements in focus," the artist explained.
Cindi Morrison, Zoller Gallery Director, explained that much of the work is Mitchell's way of pointing her anxiety toward the art form.
"She has a lot of anxiety, we all do.
She'll vent her anxiety on an object instead of on a person," Morrison said.
Mitchell also lets the viewer participate in much of her work. She creates a mental playground for the human emotions, letting the viewer get involved in the work from many angles and experiences. The work essentially becomes a playpen where humans confront their lifelong conflicts.
"Human initiated emotion has also become important in my latest series of work. 'Rolling Angst Cage' has a skeleton in a cage set on rollers, so the viewer can literally roll their angst away . . . . a type of viewer release. 'Opinion Swing' is part decision maker part toy. My wish is that all people will participate with the pieces and find out more about them as opposed to the Do Not Touch syndrome," Mitchell said.
In the rear of the gallery, Dennis's work entitled "Rollover," has a more obvious message.
In it the viewer is shown large puppetlike figures with Pinnochio-like noses and top-hats. The figures stride faceless on large sprockets displaying the endless motion of life. The colors on the figures are solid and unfancy. The faces are blank and alienating.
The pieces more notable characteristics included the size of the human figures.
"The figures are built on such a scale to make the human being unimportant," Morrison said.
The blank inhuman faces create a facade like picture showing life's endless grinding and alienation in the modern world. The long noses show the truthless society that Dennis attempts to show we live in.
The facelessness immediately alienates the viewer. Everything in the room is blank and solid looking. The message is intentional and deliberate.
Morrison describes the work as one of primitive folk art, a simplified piece meant to catch the viewers attention without learned art principles.
Morrison explained that the viewer becomes part of an art form called an installation piece. The artists in these pieces build their concepts around the viewers in trying to express their ideas. Morrison explains this use in "Roll Over."
"(Dennis) is giving you the information that you need. He's given you the human form reference."
Mitchell received her master of fine arts degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is presently the associate curator of The Sculpture Tour at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Dennis received his master of fine arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He is presently an art instructor at Clarion University, Clarion, PA.
