FINA Gallery –  Male Perspectives

oook contributor Heather Leier checked out the show currently on at the UBCO FINA gallery.

Unless you are a Fine Arts student at the University of British Columbia Okanagan campus or maybe someone who frequents the Fine Arts and Health building, you may not know that there is actually an art gallery on campus. During the winter and spring semesters the “FINA Gallery”, as it is called, has weekly exhibitions of work by Fine Arts students.

On another note, you may not know that UBCO also has a public art collection.

This is a collection of visual art, largely composed of work by past fine art graduates, but also contains works from many other artists. Next time you are on campus, and you see an art piece in or outside a building, it is likely part of the public art collection.

Throughout the summer, the FINAa gallery has often goes empty. Which is the perfect opportunity for curator Susan Belton, who manages and curates UBCO public art collection, to fill the space. For the second summer in a row, Belton has created an exhibition pulled from the UBCO collection. For this summer, Belton has curated a show titled, “Male Perspective”, which compliments last summer’s show, “Female Perspective,” also put together by Belton.

Taking a look at the show myself, I had multiple impressions. I had a good laugh over Giuseppe Simpatico’s digital print, “The Unknown Child 2,” which featured Sarah Michelle Geller, and what I assume is the artist. This “movie poster” was most entertaining because of the subtle hints towards UBC professors in the fine print at the bottom. My curiosity was sparked by Scott August’s photo titled, “Deer Hunting” which is a large print of the artist gazing at the camera beside what I imagine is a taxidermy deer.

Other, more serious works bring a different dimension to this exhibition. Pudy Tong’s digital print, titled “The History of dawsoncollege.jpg: 13/09/06 – 21/04/07 Second Edition” is particularly haunting as it is a manipulated version of an iconic image of the 2006 shooting at Dawson College; while Kevin Easthope’s painting “Blankety Blank Blank, Huzzah!” exudes a sense of mystery in the imagery of men wearing masks, not to mention the giant clown face that confronts you as you enter the gallery.

Overall, this exhibition definitely offers something for all art tastes and I am glad that works which “were crying for exposure,” as Belton puts it, are able to be on display.

Susan Belton would like to say a big thank you to Maureen Lisle and Don Lyons who have been able to open and close the gallery daily.

“Male Perspective” is on until August 12^th and is open to the public Monday to Friday 9:00am-3:30pm. The FINA Gallery is on the bottom floor of the Fine Arts and Health building on the University of British Columbia Okanagan campus.