The world of children and the world of adults lie side by side in this week’s Independent Study Exhibition, currently on display in the Ebert Art Museum. The two projects complement each other nicely, despite the obvious tension between them.
Lindsay Lutz, ’10, wrote and illustrated a short comic book, inspired by her lifelong love of the genre, entitled “Phillip is My Best Friend: Being The Story of a Girl and Her Duck.”
Phillip is a small wooden duck, owned by Sophia, a little blonde girl. Inspired partly by Bill Watterson, Lutz set out to explore the influences our imaginary friends have on our lives, and the bittersweet nature of growing up. “I really like little kids,” she said. “That kind of unfettered energy and creativityÖ I think that’s something we lose as adults.”
In her whimsical, crayoned pages, which are mounted on the walls for closer inspection, Lutz does her best to re-capture the look and feel of being a kid.
The artwork is not perfectly polished, as in graphic novels intended for adults; instead, there is a carefully executed scribbliness to the drawings that makes them feel very familiar and comfortable. Lutz taps into the things we all run into as children playing pretend, including a wonderfully scary imaginary beast that Sophia and Phillip must defeat.
Although there are a number of printed comic books out for visitors to read, they are not currently for sale. “I’ve had at least a dozen people asking if they can buy it,” said an amused Lutz. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
Ten feet away from the bright alphabet mat at the center of Lutz’s exhibit lies a very different world. The gallery here is darkened, and a shifting landscape of development is projected onto a raised platform with roads carved into it. To one side is a desk with two computers; to the other is the corner of a house, a fence, and a ladder which can be climbed to peer into the yard.
The exhibit continues upstairs, with six massive cut-out pieces mounted on the walls, two of which are made of turf.
The organizationóspread out over two floorsósuits the theme. Nicholas Knodt ’10 examines the ëbuilt environments’ in which so many of us make our homes, and what they do to our relationships with each other, in an I.S. entitled “No Outlet: An Exploration of Suburban Sprawl.” An urban studies minor, Knodt grew up in a suburb of Washington, D.C., which has clearly affected his artwork.
The upstairs exhibits, which all “attempt to bring in more real-world examples [of suburban sprawl] through cartography,” are taken from maps of onramp systems, subdivisions and cul-de-sacs in the D.C. area.
They are meant to show how we are living in a world that subscribes to what Knodt calls B.A.N.A.N.A. ó Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything. This can be seen in the centerpiece of his exhibit as well, the aforementioned projected landscape. The piece, entitled “Fifty Years of Privitization,” shows the gradual development of suburbia.
These exhibits were not planned to go together. And yet they do; one is talking about fantasy and childhood, and the internal issues one faces, while the other is concerned with adulthood, reality and the external challenges of life.
“The two shows juxtapose togetherÖ this naÔvetÈ, these beautifully rendered drawings, against the real element of what is happening right now,” said Knodt. “It wasn’t on purpose,” Lutz agreed. “But it does what art should ó it jars you.”
The exhibit will run through next week. Further information on Knodt’s project, along with an ongoing dialog about suburban development,† may be found at www.sprawltalk.com.