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“HEAD FULLER” BY
BRYAN SCHULDT
OUTSIDE THE WHITE BOX
Inkblots, fishing crews and furniture cycle at the
Mills International Center
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November 1, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
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I
f you were an artist, how would you represent the worst of the human condition?
How about rabid hyenas emerging from the swollen, bandaged head of a faceless
man? That’s how artist and University of Oregon student Bryan Schuldt imagined it
with his piece “Head Fuller,” on display at the UO’s Mills International Center.
“Hyenas seemed to be the perfect animal to show disgust, fear, restlessness, anger
and just a lot of ‘bad’ emotions that we have in everyday life, especially in interac-
tions with others,” Schuldt says.
The Mills International Center’s fall exhibition, Cycles, features the work of four
students: Bryan Schuldt, Mary Campbell, Alisa Akay and Bryan Putnam. First-time
curator Justino Long hand-picked the artists.
The Mills International Center, in the Erb Memorial Union, is where many UO students
go to study, catch up with friends or catnap on the saffron couches. More than that, this is
a place for students to ease the transition from summer to fall, whether they come from
Cambodia or Cottage Grove. For Long, the challenge with Cycles was to integrate the art
with the space. “This room is not the typical white box of the gallery,” he says. “My
intention was to create some sort of connection between the work and the space, instead
of just having the work here for decorative purposes.”
In Cycles, the motif of reinvigorating sequence is the common thread. Long selected
artists who examine familiar styles and compositions, yet find ways to arrive in foreign
territories. Schuldt’s “Rorshach Study,” for example, is a new perspective on the
psychological inkblot test. Putnam takes a look at the symbolic and narrative properties of
tattoo in his “Sightings” series. Campbell places living room furniture in a fresh setting,
and Akay’s fall foliage takes on a metaphysical bent.
Putnam skillfully engages the contemporary artistic and cultural landscape through
visual storytelling. In “Sightings,” he invites us to interpret a strange, life-altering incident
in the lives of a small fishing crew. See for yourself what this means, and while you’re at
it, make sure to check out his fantastic fish and “ESAV Studies” etchings.
Schuldt is another standout. In Schuldt’s “Have Heart,” two wraithlike figures with
dotted halos part fabric to reveal a blue heart. His sculptural screen-print collage, “In the
Quiet Absence of God,” invites the viewer to decode the black and white scenes and their
relation to each other. Horses graze, figures blur in ghostly symmetry and bridges against
stark landscapes carve into the white sky.
Akay and Campbell use a color palette of pinks and reds to different effect. Campbell
uses specific moments in her life as fodder for her work. She begins with the memory as
a concrete reference point, and then dips “into a more unconscious world of color and
experimentation with mark making.” A Portland-born painter, Akay cites local artists
Adam Grosowksy and Ron Graff as pivotal instructors. Akay renders her paintings with
visible brush strokes, dynamic textures and vibrant, saturated colors. ■
Cycles runs through Dec. 3 at Mills International Center, University of Oregon; free. The exhibit is part of the Lane
Arts Council’s ArtWalk.