"Drawn to Drawing"

Student art shows are amazing, if for no other reason than the work often indicates what you will see in major contemporary collections in five or ten years. Since digital and new-media techniques have yet to make a large impression on the museum world, this exhibition offers a glimpse of what the future might hold. The best example is a group of artists' work in a computer kiosk. Much like a sketchbook, pages display digitally rendered images. In one, a kaleidoscope is constructed by live video feed and in another, lines are generated from the pitch and volume of pop songs. Using systems and code, several works visualize data in often repetitive and linear ways. By showing these multimedia pieces alongside the conventional pen-on-paper method, this show, which is curated by and exhibits the works of primarily students and alumni, attempts to widen the boundaries of what we historically think of as drawing.

This curatorial premise was created in part as a response to the immense popularity of conventional drawing in art-making. In this show of more than 60 works, most of the drawings that cause you to look twice are indeed the pen-and-pencil type. Ryan Gillette's inked images seem to be autobiographical. His portrayals of family life include kittens idyllically suckling and a pig on a skewer near beer-guzzling men. Also intriguing are David Leggett's cartoonish works in which lewd stream-of-consciousness imagery erupts onto the page. One could posit that the presence of drawing, which is so strong at the moment, is a reaction against the digital, and indicates a desire for the immediacy of the hand. Even so, this exhibition proves that the two can live peaceably side by side for years to come.—Madeline Nusser