through the looking glass
The little boxes hanging on the walls probably won't grab your attention if you're just walking by the Rotunda Gallery in the Memorial Student Union. Until close inspection, they just look like darkened glass, framed with industrial looking metal.
In her current exhibit, UA alumna Sharon Holnback intends for her work to be viewed up close and personal. Titled Obscured, all of her pieces are mixed-media photographs.
Using still life scenes, Holnback abstracts her subjects by photographing them through thick glass, and then making transparent prints for the final work. She further diffuses the photos by covering them in layers of textured glass.
The effect is very holographic. As Holnback explains, "I am interested in the atmospheric qualities that occur when light and layered glass interact." The picture and the colors change as you move from one viewpoint to another. Through these optical effects, Holnback provokes viewers to become interactive with the photos, and understand the importance of lighting and perspective.
In her best pieces, Holnback harmonizes color, texture and image. Works like "Deep Breath" and "Condensed View" evoke a very serene mood in blue-greens and glass that mimic water. In one, the glass looks like waves in the ocean; in another, droplets of water are captured inside the glass. In more experimental modes, this harmony doesn't always come together. With "Cactus Glow," for example, a shard of bright orange glass shocks an otherwise subdued green image.
Obscured is on display in the Rotunda Gallery in the Memorial Student Union through March 2.
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