"Ghosts of Industry," the current art exhibit at the student-run Gallery Visio, presents some haunting images of an industrial past in a variety of media.
Three UM-St. Louis student artists, painter Julie Deken, photographer Danny Reise and illustrator Matt Pierson all turn their talents onto the relics of past industry.
The works are grouped by artist and each of them brings a distinctive approach to the subject through several works.
"Ghosts Of Industry" is actually the title of the first work you see upon entering the gallery, a large, dark abstract work, a silver gelatin print on steel, by Julie Deken, the only piece of hers that is not a painting. As you enter the gallery space on the right, three paintings by the artist are displayed. The works aim to portray industrial objects in the style of portraiture and succeed admirably. They are perhaps the most formal and visually appealing in the exhibit.
All are oil painting on canvas, using sepia tones of brown and grey, with striking high contrast lighting and shadows. "Hydroscale" focuses on a large industrial dial, tipped on its side, like a face of a subject sitting for a portrait. A very striking painting of a hanging metal electrical outlet, "Untitled," has the object framed by dried vines to which brown leaves still cling. "High Power" shows a darkly ominous but unidentifiable metal object inside a building, partially draped with plastic sheeting.
Matt Pierson's drawings could not be more different. Using a style that is part cartooning, part surrealism, sometimes accented with broad brush strokes of paint, Pierson's works are playful and imaginary. There is a 1930s cartoon theme to the sometimes old movie-inspired fantasies. Five of the works, largely ink on white paper, incorporate color and three are black and white. "Industry Monster and His Drill" and "Industry Monster and his Forklift Toy" feature a cartoon monster who is more '30s comic than scary, lost in a floating landscape of industrial pipes, chains and what-not. The floating landscape style, reminiscent of early comics like "Little Nemo," are a common theme in these works. Another is plumbing, with playful works titled "Toilet Falling In Space," "Pipe Islands" and "Pipescape" versions one through three. The remaining work is "Landlines and Chains," which transfers the previous works of convoluted fantasy plumbing flowing in space into industrial chains. Pierson's works are easily the most fun in the exhibit.
Danny Riese's photographs are more contemplative, even sadly nostalgic. These works are also the most artistically innovative, in that all but two are photos transferred by inkjet on to canvas, so that they occupy a space between painting and photography. In fact, they look like paintings. The works are all interiors of abandoned and trash-strewn industrial sites, with a half-lit illumination. The eight works are simply numbered and focus on scenes such as a metal ladder, a paint-encrusted piece of machinery, a broken box with fluorescent light bulbs spilling out or a pile of rolls of what may be paper or fabric. The works occupy the remaining wall of the gallery. Two other works by Reise are displayed on the column behind the gallery entry. These two, "Ashes of the Industrial Age" and "Rusted Mechanism in Industry," are both sepia-toned Van Dyke prints on ragged-edged asymmetric paper.
The whole exhibit shows remarkable cohesion and touches on the major ways in which the industrial past is often portrayed, from comic to romantic to nostalgic to tragic.
"Ghosts of Industry" is on display in Gallery Visio through July 16. The gallery is located on the lower level of the Student Millennium Center, off the hallway that connects the Nosh and the Pilot House. Hours are Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and admission is free.
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