Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
This weekend’s senior Studio Art exhibition features the work of Anthony Yoshimura ’12 and Thomas Soares ’12. Their artwork will be displayed together in List Gallery from April 13th to 15th. The opening reception is this Friday the 13th from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., in conjunction with Arts Weekend.
Yoshimura, a painter from Santa Barbara, California, creates oil landscapes that focus on shape.
“For now, my job as a painter is to create a beautiful, two-dimensional image. Nothing more,” said Yoshimura. “Don’t try to look for any sort of thematic imagery or subliminal statements. I have not hidden anything for you to find. I promise.”
The paintings in Yoshimura’s Parts to a Whole are unique interpretations of local buildings. In many of the pieces, he has stripped the architecture down to its most basic components. His intention is to create images that discourage “interpretive mechanisms” and ask viewers to “simply look.”
“The only thing you might want to think about is whether to stand closer or further away,” said Yoshimura.
Soares, a New York artist currently focusing on drawing, creates landscapes of a different kind. His thesis, Human Landscapes, examines “the imperfections of the human body.”
“My intention is to expose the inherent beauty that can be found in a wrinkled hand or pair of chapped lips, through use of extreme dark and light shapes,” said Soares, who spends weeks on each of his carefully rendered sketches. He employs negative space in order to encourage interpretation and lend greater power to heavily pigmented areas.
“I invite people to get lost in the shapes that are set in stone and to fill in for themselves what has been left ‘untouched.’ Perhaps they will see something I have yet to discover.”
The exhibition is free and open to the public during regular List Gallery hours. All are welcome at Friday’s reception.
Click here for a complete schedule of the 2012 Senior Thesis Exhibition Series.
Full disclosure: The author is a senior Studio Art major.
I love these profiles.
Full disclosure: This comment is written by a senior Studio Art major.