Arts & Life, Fine & Performing Arts

University Art Museum hosts walkthrough of artists exhibition

Envision waves crashing along the shore, a lighthouse’s flashing signals to oncoming boats, the smell of seaweed and the salty taste of ocean water. Artists Jud Fine and Barbara McCarren embodied these senses through their exhibit, AND/OR.

The artists gave visitors a walkthrough of their exhibit, currently showcased in the University Art Museum, at noon on Sept. 27. The event was open to the public and gave attendees in-depth descriptions of the pieces.

McCarren and Fine showcase projects from their long-running endeavor, Continental Edge Dwellers, as well as work from their show in New York, Currency.

The gallery has a nautical theme that Fine and McCarren use to tell a story about their Continental Edge Dwellers projects.

Fine and McCarren said that there is a common theme of transparency within our lives throughout their exhibit.

The artist description states: “The sea is at once a line, an edge, a space, and a condition. For both, the impenetrability of the sea versus the intimacy and comfort of land speaks metaphorically to human constraint and provides the two with an infinite field for imaginative expanse.”

The biggest project centered in the main room of the gallery focuses on two ships. One is made from wood and wire and looks as if it is almost flipping over. The other is made of steel and wire, with the nose of the boat diving toward the ground. The piece stands over 14 feet tall.

In the room off to the left of the gallery, there is a clear file cabinet with an explosion of the artists’ brainstormed ideas for the exhibition.

McCarren and Fine sat down with the Daily 49er to discuss some of their projects.

What was the hardest piece in the exhibit for you to complete?

Fine: “When you’re in the middle of it, you don’t know if it is going to come out okay. We’ve been doing it long enough where it most likely will. The most difficult were the boats. They weren’t done and time kept going by. The curator was asking when it would be done and we didn’t know. We didn’t know they were going to go together, but at the same time each boat was a thing of beauty in itself. We knew if nothing else, we could just put the two boats in the show. The answer was there, but what we wanted wasn’t until we had gotten both of the boats.”

McCarren: “In the end, it is hard because you bring people in and you’re like, ‘What do you think?’ and they say ‘Ehh, you can do a little more with it.’ It is always good to have exterior input instead of just supporting each other. Sometimes the solution is just a visual one.”

How did you come up with the idea of the transparent file cabinet?

McCarren: “It was such a beautiful thing. Finally, at one point, it occurred to me to put a line drawing that you can see through it. It is an office furniture, so the text is on the top of the file tabs. When I came to UCLA in 1978, I made all my work out of office supplies. I felt like, ‘Here I am 40 years later, back to office supplies.’ It was kind of a full circle. It wasn’t deliberate, it just was the solution. You are a composite of all your history. It is kind of fascinating we are as human beings, you bring your past with you and it shows.”

Is this a portion of a bigger exhibit you will be showcasing in the future?

McCarren: “This is all of it in its entirety for right now. When we show it in our gallery in New York, there will be bits and parts of this, like the Offshore might be there and the Bop Boy figures. Because this is very site-specific, we thought a lot about Long Beach being the most active port in the world. We really were thinking there are a lot of things here that have to do with this space. We always think of it specific to its location.”

How long did the entire exhibition take to complete?

McCarren: “That’s almost impossible to say, because the portal on the other side of the wall is from 1990, and the money work was from 2004. Most of the other work was from 2016, but we have been thinking about this show for three years. The mad rush of writing about it to give to the essayists and working on it every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. took about a year. Everything we do is leading up to the next exhibition, whenever that is.”

Do you have any words of wisdom or inspirations to pass along to the art students on campus?

McCarren: “[The viewers] decide whether or not the art speaks to them. We are old and we’ve been doing this for 30-40 years. Just don’t stop. Every five years, the number of artists working is cut in half, even with new people coming out of school. There’s something to be said for those who have a long standing career. This is our first major museum show as McCarren/Fine. You just keep going. A lot of people quit and it is disheartening, but understandable. Art is a form of communication, and if nobody’s listening, sometimes you stop talking.”

The exhibit is open Saturday through Thursday to the public until Dec. 11 from noon to 5 p.m. and closed on Fridays.

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