Visiting artist Mark Hosford visited Fredonia Thursday for a Visiting Artist lecture. His work was shown the following night in conjunction with Craig LaRotonda’s sculptures and paintings, above, in the Marion Art Gallery
Photo courtesy of Mary Laing / Special to The Leader
HANNA NEUMANN
Staff Writer
“As artists, we fit this role as the island of misfit toys — we don’t quite fit in,” said visiting artist Mark Hosford during his presentation for the art department. The event included an interaction between one of his animation characters, “sugarboy,” and the audience, as well as some death metal tunes and plenty of laughter.
Hosford is an artist who focuses in the mediums drawing, printmaking and animation. He deals with concepts such as human existence and the subconscious mind. Hosford described his work as bringing out the dark side of the world in order to shed light on these issues.
“I use my art to explore the human condition, revealing my personal view of the world, in the hope that others will compare and relate this exploration to their own. It is my belief that the sharing of stories and emotions helps humankind to understand themselves better by peering into the thoughts of others,” said Hosford on his online Neatorama art blog.
The presentation struck the attention of the audience and inspired many.
“I took a lot away from the event. I absolutely loved it and really identified with him. A lot of the other artists sometimes even come across as almost impersonal; whereas, Mark is more genuine and I like how personal his work is and how he shared the stories behind each piece … He was more up my alley. We don’t get a lot of illustrators,” said Zoey Rich, junior animation and illustration major.
The college environment of aspiring artists is an avenue that Hosford explored here in Fredonia. He had an opportunity to spread information about himself and the work he does as well as the opportunity to inspire and make people think.
“For me, it’s like a college environment or a contemporary arts center that is my ideal environment because I’m not really interested in selling work and making money off profited work. I am more interested in a dialogue and discussion around a body of work and how it affects people,” said Hosford. “So, for me, I teach at a university and I want to affect people who are in that dialogue of questioning the world, questioning their thoughts and processes. So, for me, it fits right in. It is a personal education tool to get people to kind of question a lot of things within themselves or other things that they might be learning about or thinking about.”
Not only did the audience get to see Hosford’s presentation, they also had the opportunity to experience both Hosford’s work along with Craig LaRotonda’s work at the captivating gallery opening in the Marion Art Gallery in Rockefeller.
LaRotonda’s paintings and sculptures incorporate mixed media and aging techniques, ultimately creating surreal figurative works.
“I’m intrigued by the human condition — the outsiders, the freaks, the monsters, the desperate and the hopeful,” said LaRotonda when he gave a brief presentation at the gallery opening Friday night.
“These figures are in a struggle through their existence. They are flawed physically and emotionally and their environment is damaged either by others or by themselves by their own doing. These characters are in different stages in their emotional development and are united by the theme of the search for life’s meaning,” said LaRotonda when he discussed his paintings.
The gallery opening that included both of the artists’ work was an environment for viewers to initiate a dialogue and comparison of the works.
“I really enjoyed both events and being an illustration and animation major and seeing Mark Hosford’s animations and all of the work that he did was really great. It gave me a little insight on how to perfect my craft,” said Cody Lester, senior animation and illustration major. “Craig LaRotonda’s work equally is a learning experience for me even though it is outside of my realm: painting. His work is very renaissance-y so its good to see that kind of work still exists and lives. He described his work as in a timeless atmosphere and I have to agree.”
Both artists dealt with the concepts that deal with issues that deviate from the norm in society.
“I like comparing the two artists because Craig is much more of a renaissance approach and Mark is almost like a pop art type of approach to it,” said Rich. “But they both have the same concept of bringing the uncomfortable things in society and showing them to everyone even if it makes them uncomfortable. To them, art is speaking out and making us look at things and not hiding behind all of the little walls that we put up.”
The sharing of the exhibition not only allowed viewers to make these connections and this dialogue, but it also affected the artists whose work was shown.
“I really enjoy two person shows, actually more than solo shows. I am around my own art all the time and I understand the dialogue between it but if you bring in another artist like Craig there are similarities and differences that start speaking to each other and since the vocabulary and the conversation just gets bigger and the dialogue speaks to each other it makes me almost see things in my art by studying his art in the same space. So, I love it,” said Hosford following the gallery exhibition.
Hosford’s presentation along with the dual gallery exhibition with LaRotonda inspired many artists and allowed for alternative thought from their audience.
The exhibition “The Stuff of Dreams: Hosford and LaRotonda” will be up under the end of March in the Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery in Rockefeller. The hours are Monday through Thursday from 12-4 p.m., Friday through Saturday from 12-6 p.m. and Sunday from 12-4p.m.. It is closed during spring break.