Art for Mid-week Wednesdays: Static and Statue

INTERPRETATIVE A new kind of sculpture-portrait.

For MFA student Matthew Segotta's Merlino work, this is an art that has more to do with its materials and the story to how it was made, which includes the main ingredient, Segotta's brother, Tim. "The Sculptor," as noted on the room plaque, or casually just "Scout," employed his younger bro for the casting of this untitled piece, and then a rich mix of materials: concrete, hydrocal, silicone, sisal, aluminum and steel.

The details are so specific to the subject—if you look closer at the right arm, you'll see human hair. But the unconventional presentation of this sculpture form is what stood out to me the most. The artist, who is on-hand during the entirety of his exhibition, will tell you about the process and the subject. The viewer, simply me, will tell you how soothing it is to finally walk into a room bare of wall art and stories locked into a perimeter of a few square dimensions. Statue work is normally seen erect, standing, but makes more of a statement here, where it's thrown and naked on the ground. This show makes more an impact with less and gives sculpture art some kind of new air of coolness. It works with the new tradition I've seen coming out of CSULB artists, like with Julia Haft-Candell, an MFA ceramics student who in spring transformed Merlino into a sculpture-cocoon, or BFA student Sean Flaherty, who adds himself into the end product of even his most sensual work. Space and identity are displayed and explored to dynamic exponents.

S.P. BALTAZAR A new character for Patrick Ballard gets its debut behind locked doors, and an overwhelming voice with an equally charged volume.

Another sculpture student who I find repeatedly "adding himself into the end products," is the unparalleled Patrick Ballard.

I stood there knocking, afraid I was missing the show. As soon as I stepped inside the FA3 building, the walls were throbbing from the noise outpouring one of its first-floor showrooms. Though, really, I was in a sequence of two shows in a row (see above) where the audience was challenged to restrain from and resist usual gallery expectations.

In a dramatic sense, it felt like God was speaking to me.

"S.P. Baltazar" is in the FA3 building through Saturday, 7 p.m. Matthew Segotta's work can be viewed through Thursday (12 p.m. to 5 p.m.) in the Merlino Gallery in the Gallery Courtyard.

Pre-Election Notebook: Fahnestock's Video Art

NO WALLFLOWER McLean Fahnestock, MFA sculpture student, exercises her political views through her video art. Politics and celebrity shape powerful characters we all get to know, but politicians hold all the power, Fahnestock says.

It's come down to less than 24 hours before Election Day. History will be made either way -- the possibility exists for the first black president or the first woman vice president to enter office.

Whatever the scenario, Masters of Fine Arts sculpture student McLean Fahnestock is watching carefully, so carefully she often records politicians or those stalwart political TV analysts in the act.

In the Gatov gallery, she's got Hilary Clinton in a "Today Show" interview from 1998 -- the day after the Lewinski scandal broke. Part of Fahnestock's interests include documenting politicians who mesh "private and public parts" of their lives before the media. A better example rings louder in the Merlino gallery, occupied by another one of her videos, "The Great Debate." "God. God. God. God." repeat two men. This is an example of how God, being that private thing, gets delivered in such a public manner.


THE "GOD" VIDEO "God. God. God. God. God." Currently in the Merlino Gallery, Fahnestock's 45-second video projection called "The Great Debate." The video shows two conservative news analysts, George Will and Cal Thomas. The great debate? It's about teaching creationism and evolution, noted Fahnestock.

"I am watching performance," notes the part-time video artist. "It's a facade, all in the face, a schedule in looking like people."

Like how democratic nominee Barack Obama announced he'd be spending time with his children for Halloween?, I probe. Actually, Farhnestock responds, more like John McCain's making-up of fictional characters, like "Joe the Plumber," attempting to grasp the middle-class archtype.

Farhnestock is excited about the election, and so am I. And as the school's arts commissioner, I'm more curious of which candidates have more interest in supporting the arts and funding for artists, a lot of like what I do.

Click here to read what LA Times has to say about the presidential candidates and their individual support towards the arts.

Do you vote according to who has greater support for the arts?

Q&A with a Doodle Master from Planet CSULB

Beverly Bartolome—university illustration student, talented curator and an authority on doodling. That's right, doodling, that peculiar pasttime that some of us impulsively engage in during those loooooong, laborious lectures. And, watch out! Bartolome's up to something good with next week's must-see art show at Cal State Long Beach's Merlino Gallery, where she'll be displaying a rare collection of fantastic doodle masterpieces.

Click and enlarge the image below to learn about Bartolome's attraction to doodling, when she last doodled and what you can expect at her show, The Doodle Show.

Details about the show on the image. Click to enlarge.

This is one doodle that can’t be undid, homeskillet.