Isla: Regarding Paradise Inspected by Towson Students
Curator Jackie Milad brings her new exhibit, Isla: Regarding Paradise to Towson University’s Center for the Arts, allowing students, staff and faculty to gain insight on the idea and theme of paradise.
The temporary installation aims to reveal the depth behind the typical postcard utopian ideologies people tend to have about tropical destinations such as Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
“The whole show started two years ago.”, said Milad. “We had a hurricane throughout the process. It was really hard.”
The nations have their own specific social and economic. The banner that greets viewers at the entrance of the installation states “…examining these nations as complex societies struggling to assert economic independence, political autonomy, and environmental justice.”
Keith Swint, a sophomore business major, was at the exhibit with his friends and plenty to say about it.
“I don’t usually go to art museums or stuff like that, but this one looked cool.”, said Swint. “I was kinda let down with how small it was. The art is interesting, but maybe it’s too complex for me to understand fully.”
Milad, a Towson graduate, used several different methods of art within the exhibit, including a sculpture, pottery, gridded paintings, oil on canvas, videos and more. She has done several pieces of art before herself, and often takes inspiration from her Puerto Rican heritage.
“It’s really important to me that you know the show is not the ‘Puerto Rico’ show or the ‘Dominican Republic’ show.”, said Milad. “It’s a show that is important to all of us in some way, especially in today’s political climate.”
Several different artists were featured within the exhibit, and each art piece within has something in common – they all used the word “paradise” as their baseline. The artists used common tropical building blocks such as cement and rejas, an iron sheet, as materials in their creations.
The goal of the exhibit was to explore the true meaning of paradise and how it is different from how it appears on postcards, television and other media.
One art piece within the exhibit featured three different hanging canvases, each with unique drawings and sketches on them. The canvases had 3 planks of wood holding them to the wall.
“There were these funky lookin’ sticks with lights at the top, and headphones attached to the wall.”, said sophomore Malik Pate, a computer science major who noticed the exhibit one day and was interested. “It was pretty cool. If you held the sticks and shined the lights on the paintings, they would make noise and the noises would change depending on where you were.”
In the definition of the word “paradise”, the phrase “walled enclosure” can be seen. Milad was stuck on those words and wanted to make that phrase a focal point of her exhibition.
Another interesting aspect of the gallery was the silent video that played in the back of the room. Behind a wall, there is a video screen with a sole bench, where viewers can watch for as long as they please.
“The video was kind of weird.”, said Pate. “I watched it a few times just to make sure I wasn’t missing any deeper meaning, but I don’t think I was. It was just two guys grabbing onto a flagpole and stretching their legs out, acting like flags. I didn’t understand it.”
Along with the student group was sophomore criminal justice major Nicolai Barclay, who was not afraid to voice his honest opinion on the video.
“I didn’t expect these types of exhibits.”, said Barclay, while looking back at his friends and the other art installations. “It’s all abstract. I guess we can put our own meanings into it, but most of it just seems to involve barricades.”
“The constructed walls within the exhibit are strong, yet fragile and are see-through.”, said Milad. “Who can be let into these barriers, what are they protecting, and why? That theme really stuck with me throughout this.”
The largest installation within the gallery was a massive, multi-medium sculpture sat atop a unique backdrop. The sculpture had many different dimensions and colors and did not resemble any animal or person.
“The sculpture I can tell is meant to be abstract.”, said Pate. “If I had to guess, I’d say it looks like a rhino. But I don’t know if that’s what the artist meant, cause’ that’s the point of abstract art. I get that feeling about every artwork here.”
Despite the students’ obvious confusion about the artworks within the exhibit, they seemed to think heavily about the implications of the word “paradise” and how everyone imagines it.
“Paradise is a place like Puerto Rico or any kind of island destination to me.”, said Swint. “I get the curator’s point though, because we don’t really think about what the countries are actually going through politically or economically. We just use it to go on vacation.”
Milad was very thankful for all the artists that assisted her in the exhibition.
The exhibit will be on display in room 2340 in Towson University’s Center for the Arts until October 20th.
mpate2@students.towson.edu
sbarcl1@students.towson.edu
kswint1@students.towson.edu
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