After four years as visual arts concentrators, Cecilia Salama ’12 and Jill Silverberg ’11 are no newcomers to exhibiting their artwork at Brown. This winter they collaborated on a mixed media installation, “ssided,” at the List Arts Center.
“Though the approach may be sculptural, in my eyes they are all paintings,” Salama wrote in an email to The Herald. Salama’s previous works have included similar application of sculptural elements in conventional painting gallery settings.
The exhibit was designed to convey “a visceral sense of materiality and a nod to new technology ... while still staying largely within traditional art mediums,” Silverberg wrote.
In addition to traditional materials, works in the exhibit incorporate latex, spool, vinyl, cellophane, oil and tea, as well as media elements including a digital audio-video composition. Despite their nontraditional elements, the works do not seem disjointed but rather part of a larger, more homogeneous set of ideas. As Salama wrote, the artists seem clearly “aware of what material (they) use as canvas.”
The installation comprises many individual pieces working together. Some of these works are untitled, but those named include “Baby Face,” “Lukewarm Set-Up” and a series of smaller, narrative canvases including “Back off! You’re a lesbian.”
Both artists had several influences, and their work reflects these varying themes. Salama listed artists Karla Black, Gedi Sibony, Franz West and Esther Klas as continual sources of inspiration.
“There was no concrete, specific message that I intended to convey with our show, but I think that both Cecilia and I approach our work with many of the same concerns,” Silverberg wrote.
The exhibition can be viewed until Jan. 30.
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