Every semester, students from Baruch College’s New Media Arts capstone class take a few weeks to brainstorm final projects and find a common theme among them. After realizing most projects drew inspiration from classic films, archival materials and recent popular culture, “Timelines,” their upcoming exhibition, came to fruition. It will consist of video games, websites and video pieces.
“The great thing about it though, is all of us have different mediums in how we explore our artwork,” Artist Joshua Huante told The Ticker. “So, we have animation, we also have [projects involving] interactive websites and a lot of us are also using interactions with our own personal lives and with stuff that has to do with media and movies,” Huante said.
Although Huante was reluctant to speak on his work, he shared that he was intrigued by “Catzilla,” a classmate’s absurdist short film that greenscreens her cat into “Godzilla”-like scenes of monstrous destruction.
Artist and public relations strategist Ashley Tavarez also touched upon retro aesthetics. Her video “Petals of Perception” includes monochrome roses over technicolor makeup models to depict everchanging and fleeting beauty standards. She was inspired by vintage advertising and the works of makeup artist Pat McGrath.
“I wanted to focus specifically on beauty, as well as the floral aesthetic,” Tavarez said. “A lot of my project [examines] the commercialization of beauty and how it’s changed over the years.”
The exhibition’s Instagram page teases 12 works and shows behind-the-scenes footage of students critiquing each other’s pieces as well as working on promotional material. Tavarez added that her classmates’ constructive feedback helped her transform “Petals of Perception” from a “clean cut” looking commercial to a more experimental and abstract work capturing the unstable inconsistencies of beauty standards.
While Baruch holds a business-oriented reputation, Tavarez hopes the page’s marketing will help attract students to the exhibition.
“What we want to do really is just attract Baruch students to come see more art, we really want to bring the idea of [seeing new] immersive arts and something fun towards the end of the semester,” she said.
“Timelines” will debut on the second and third floor of The William and Anita Newman Library on May 17 from 4-6 p.m. and be on view through Sept. 4. It will also be available online on the New Media Artspace.
