Art exhibit gets rave reviews

Gertrude Stein would have been proud. Throngs of bohemian students and adult supporters filled the Institute of Contemporary Art last Friday night for a first glimpse of the Institute's winter exhibition and a chat with the artists who had created it. This season's showing is a smorgasbord of painting, photography, film and mixed media that, without being directly related, merge together for a exhibit of geometric continuity. The optical paintings of Edna Andrade from 1963 to 1986 comprise the main exhibition located on the first floor. Andrade's work focuses on geometric form and contrasting colors brought together with a draftsman's precision to create visual combinations and optical illusions. "Form and color -- what you see is what you get," said Andrade, a 1937 Penn alumna. "There's no story that comes with that." Amidst a contemporary movement that strives to give meaning to every brush stroke, Andrade remains bold about the nature of her work. "If you bring anything to it, it may have some symbolic value for you, and it may have some symbolic value for me," she said. "But that's after I've done it." With 86 years to her name, Andrade feels that, although time has passed, her work has not aged. "I understand that young people enjoy work like this now, and it relates to issues in art that much younger people are now addressing," Andrade said. College sophomore Stephanie Roach echoed Andrade's sentiments. "It still has freshness and appeal to a young audience," she said. "It's just beautiful, and I'm very impressed with it." The second floor's main exhibit, entitled "Intricacy," is composed of computer-aided mixed media from various artists and architects, and curated by architect Greg Lynn. The whole room looks very modern, from the mother-of-pearl light fixtures dripping to the ground to the digitally-aided blobs of red polyester in the middle of the floor. The exhibit also boasts architectural plans from cities all over the United States, CADKEY-generated drawings, a sensual video about robot construction and computer-aided painting. Lynn said that his architectural background had a large influence on this exhibit. "Architecture is about coming up with a way of making wholes out of elements that are unique," he said. Yet, a sense of comfort pervades the exhibit's innovation. "I feel like I'm among friends," said Jesse Reiser, one of the architects whose work was on display. "We've gotten very warm reviews." The adjoining room is a photo show by Justine Kurland. Generally set against untouched American landscapes, Kurland photographs theatrically posed females -- teenage girls and nudists -- in a sexually charged atmosphere. "The quality is really good, and there is a nice composition," Penn alumnus and architect Antoine Rotival said. "The subject matter doesn't offend me at all -- it's part of her statement." On the mezzanine level, six small flat-screen televisions show flying, toothed objects rotating furiously. The work is called "Without Warning (Flying Vaginas Are Trying to Eat Me)" by Adam Ames, a 1991 Penn graduate. From all these apparently disparate elements emerges a show that is both visually stimulating and thought-provoking, Lynn said. "This is an idea show," Lynn added. "Hopefully the University community will get a lot out of it." The exhibition, which opened Jan. 18, will run through April 6.