The first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions a dark room is film photography and pictures created through light exposure. However, “The Dark Room: Selections from the Fullerton College Collection” is an exhibition put together by Jasmine McNeal, professor of museum studies and art gallery curator, and her class.
“The purpose is to show a different side of our permanent collection that we have with Fullerton College art gallery. It focuses on a more surrealist abstract kind of points of view and different artists that were faculty and have contributed to the collection,” said McNeal.
The inspiration for the showcase was The Dark Room Dancer, a piece donated and created by former Fullerton College professor, Nixson Borah. The Dark Room Dancer is a silver print piece done in 1991, which displays a black and white print of a man staring into the camera with a sketch of himself in the background. The sketch is pensively studying the man in the forefront with a white flower etched through it all.
“I didn’t really go into it with a particular sort of vision. I kind of went by feeling and theme,” said McNeal. “I wanted a more dream-like, out-of-body, surrealist take on what the body is.”
Borah had another art piece on display, Kali Surfer. This piece was made in cast paper, a sculptural technique where paper pulp is pressed into a mold to create intricate three-dimensional forms. This abstract piece exhibited definitive colors and shapes merged together.
Displayed next to Kali Surfer is a piece done by Jim Morphesis, a painter who is no stranger to Fullerton College, a resident artist in the early ‘90s.
His piece, Dark Triptych, has been shown in the gallery a number of times throughout the years. Morphesis created this oil and charcoal collage with gold leaf on a wood board in 1992. The painting uses rich-colored oil paints and a canvas split into three panels. The middle panel, smudged and scribbled with words, is sandwiched between two panels encompassing the abdomen of two men in a “crucifix manner.”
Freshman Alyson Melendez stopped by the art gallery for the first time during this exhibit. She wasn’t familiar with Borah’s work but was drawn to Morphesis’s painting.
“I like the symmetry- It looks the same but different. It reminds me of the TV show, Hannibal. I have always been drawn to shows and movies like that, so I understand the darkness aspect,” said Melendez.
The exhibition showed off many styles of art, from Morphesis’s piece that utilized oil paintings to porcelain thinware and fabric appliqué. Meanwhile, Thomas Campbell used a mixed media print in his print screen, and Melanie Walker used an archival pigment print in her ceramic plates.
“Art is for everyone, and this gallery is accessible and for everyone to come and enjoy and to feel something new if they haven’t felt it before. To just have fun and get weird,” said McNeal.
This exhibition will be available at the Fullerton College Art Gallery until Oct. 25 from Monday to Thursday.