Erin Leland's Senior Project

Erin Leland's Senior Project
Location: Fluorescent Gallery


This art show was nothing like what I expected. It was Erin Leland's senior project, which is a requirement for her major, College Scholars. I had very high expectations for the project, and overall I must admit that I was disappointed.

The Fluorescent Gallery itself was in no way a disappointment. I actually found the gallery to be a much nicer set up than I expected. This was my first visit to the Fluorescent Gallery, and all that I knew prior to this visit was that it was situated in a somewhat sketchy part of town. But I'm glad I ventured a little farther north on Central and made it to the Fluorescent Gallery.

The Fluorescent Gallery is in the upstairs of an old building. It's easy to spot from the road, which was good since I had never visited the gallery before. I also brought a friend with me because I didn't feel comfortable driving out to that part of town alone. That is one disadvantage of the Fluorescent Gallery. If there were an opening there on a Friday night, I would not feel comfortable visiting it unless I had someone accompanying me. But normally I don't go to art shows alone, so really it wouldn't be a very big problem. Once you enter the front door, you ascend a stairwell to the second floor. This is where the gallery is actually located. The gallery was much larger than I expected it to be. The room was open, with ample wall space and gallery lighting. It provided a great setting for the art show. The presentation of the show was excellent, due mainly to the spacious design of the gallery.


The show itself was uncomfortable and in my opinion not that great. The entire show consisted of large photographs of Erin's face. The pictures were harsh and made me uncomfortable. The majority of them showed her picking her pimples. These self portraits were supposed to tell some sort of narrative, but they altogether failed to do that for me. As I quickly walked around the room looking at each photograph, I couldn't help but think about how none of the photos really looked like they required much skill to make. I think that is the main reason why I was disappointed in this show. I had really high expectations for Erin Leland, and I'm sure that she has some work that I would find far more interesting. However, I don't believe that this particular show expressed her real artistic skill nor do I believe that any of the photographs possessed true artistic merit. I think true art is something that takes special skills and talent to create. These photographs seemed to require very amateur skills to create.


On the other hand, the size of the photographs and the placement of them on the walls was well done. Erin showed all of the photographs at the same size (about 3 feet wide and 2 feet high). She also displayed them not at the same level around the entire room, but instead in abstract arrangements. I liked how Erin chose to arrange the photographs. The gallery-style lighting also worked well with the arrangement, with each picture accented by a different light.

Although Erin Leland's senior project was nothing like I expected, I am glad that I experienced it. If nothing else, at least I finally visited the Fluorescent Gallery. Although Erin's presentation of her photography was excellent, it was the content of her photography which left me dissatisfied and ultimately disappointed.