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ARTS A CULTURE
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Brett Reif said the inspiration for his latest installation "Downpoor" came from Katrina and other natural disasters. "I wanted the language of the show title to try to capture that anxiety." Reif said.
Artist draws on experience of Hurricane Katrina for exhibit
Although the title may seem
MADI SCHULZ AND
SAMANTHA SEXTON
@KansanNews
Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. And while Kansas City artist Brett Reif wasn't there for the catastrophic storm, his family was.
The gallery, entitled "Downpoor," includes pieces with titles such as "Watered Down," "Up to my Neck in Alligators" and "Come Hell or Hot Water." Each exhibit piece includes different organic shapes. Two of the sculptures, made of round tile, look as if they are melting off of the boxes they stand on, while another piece lies on the floor looking like splatters on the ground.
Today, the hurricane, along with other forces of nature, serve as inspiration for Reif's new art show in Chambers Hall.
like a misspelling, it was intentional. Reif explained while the downpour aspect originally comes from the water motif, the final double o's of the title come from his feeling that the pieces have an almost apocalyptic feel to them. Reid said he feels a "subtle, creepy, anxiousness" when thinking of the images of the show.
A common thread among the pieces in the gallery is the water motif present in the drains, tiles, stormy waves and the feeling that the pieces are almost melting. Reif began working with the drains after hurricane Katrina.
"I wanted the language of the show title to try to capture that anxiety," Reif said.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
The main star of the show is the bathroom tile, accented by different layers of distressed wallpaper and various house fixtures. Though the pieces can be called "paintings", the show
required very different skill sets than what is typically associated with paint.
"There's nothing here that didn't take at least a month to complete," Reif said.
He said he's been working with tile for about eight years and finds it is similar to working with ceramics.
"You have to know how to shape it and cut it and sand it. Eventually, I was able to draw with it and create the works that you see now, but it was definitely a lot of work. That piece took over three months of work," Reif said referring to the mass of oozing tile on the floor of the gallery.
Though the artwork itself doesn't "ooze" per se, the overall feel of the show is fluid. Shawn Bitters, an associate professor of visual arts at KU and chair of the gallery committee, said the artist's use of unusual characteristic spurred him to view Reif's work at his not-for-profit studio space, Studios Inc., in Kansas City Mo.
"I tend to look for Kansas City artists who are doing really interesting work that our students can benefit from and connect them to the Kansas City art scene," Bitters said. "I went to Reiff's studio, saw his work and just fell in love with it."
Bitters has two, one-monthlong slots to fill each year, which means whomever he chooses isn't by accident. The decision is made carefully, but once Bitters saw the "wall works" he made up his mind on the spot.
"I love the way that he takes really ordinary materials that you and I wouldn't pay any attention to at all, and transforms them into something completely different," Bitters said. "You still know exactly what materials he used but somehow he gives a life to them and a feeling.
This piece of Reif's art took approximately three months to make. The exhibit "Downpoor" is at Chalmers Hall.
"Sometimes they're slightly creepy, disturbing or maybe even a little kinky. They're provocative in the best sense and absolutely beautiful."
Each piece features aspects often associated with home decor and home building tiles, drains and wallpaper. The pieces themselves drew on different emotional and observational aspects for inspiration. The observational influences came from New Orleans as well as other forces in nature like the extreme drought occurring in California. Reif said.
Reif also has a strong emotional connection to the aspect of melting throughout the art pieces.
"This sort of melting away is something that I empathize with when watching the news or reading articles about Donald Trump," Reif said. "There's an aspect of our country, whether it's political or socioeconomic, that I think also has this melted, watery, tumultuous feel to it."
With a total of 21 pieces, some including time-consuming materials like tiles, Reif enlisted the help of interns from the Kansas City Art Institute to assist him with production, which allowed him to accelerate some of the procedure. The production can be time consuming; the large floor installation took four months to complete. The partnership between artist and intern was ultimately mutually beneficial, he said.
"By being a part of the process I can help them move forward along their own artistic path and trajectory while getting some help on my own artistic path," Reif said.
+
The show will run from Aug.
23 to Sept. 18.
Rogers: The rise of the Weeknd, Abel Tesfaye, to fame from near-anonymity
JARRET ROGERS
@JarretRogers
The evolution of a star is usually an atypical experience from the outside. Artist lands on the radio, artist lands on some top 50 list, artist is a star for however long listeners decide to pay attention.
It looks like a pretty simple operation. So much so that we don't consciously consider that the people we are talking about are, in fact, people.
Enter the Weeknd. The artist who never really gave us the opportunity, until recently, to consider him at all.
Abel Tesfaye, known as the Weeknd, released three free, critically praised mixtapes in the span of eight months, which Drake's crew caught wind of. Yet we still had no idea who he was.
If you Googled "The Weeknd" in 2011 there would have been a frustratingly few results that would load on your screen (high school sophomore me thought Google was broken) but the invisibility cloak was intentional. To remain that unknown for that long with the kind of fan base he had, it had to be intentional.
Tesfaye created a persona by not creating one at all. He was the guy you heard people talking about but never had enough leverage outside of music to be anything more than a minor talking point in a world owned by trendsetting stars
Even when he made his major label debut with "Kiss Land," Tesfaye was unknown. While it didn't perform poorly, the record didn't do what it should have done. "Kiss Land" should have been the record to transcend the career of the Weeknd, but instead, it hardly popped up on anyone's radar outside of his loyal fanbase.
Now, Teslaye has put out a new record, "Beauty Behind the Madness," which stands next to Carly Rae Jepsen's "Emotion" as the best pop record of the year. But that part doesn't really matter.
What matters is that Tesfaye is officially something in the eyes of the public. We don't know who he is in the way that we know who Jay Z is, and we probably never will, but now when you Google the Weeknd, results show Tesfaye's bird-nest hairdo and information about who he is. It's a step in the direction of stardom.
He is now doing interviews, allowing journalists to document his life. He's singing on stage with Taylor Swift. It's a shocking amount of publicity in such a short time for a man who we had nothing but rumors and songs on which to base our ideas of him.
And just like the invisibility cloak was a conscious choice, so is his new, more visible self. Go back to and listen to "House of Balloons" or "Thursday." It's clear that the production was cheap and that the goal was not to make a radio hit.
That's not to say it wasn't good, but it felt like nothing more than a diary for Tesfaye to confide in, which is arguably all music. However, Tesfaye apparently felt like he had more to offer.
The mixtapes weren't always the easiest listening, and when a voice like his pops up, you want a song to sing along with, not to sit back and ponder.
Tesfaye is now using his voice as more than just a way to communicate. His voice is his main instrument that blows listeners away with intensity or draws them in with softness.
His writing is more concise and focused. Gone are the
cryptic messages and drawn out stories. Now we're getting quick, in your face tales on top of more interesting beats.
A song with similar themes to "Prisoner," which features vocals from Lana Del Rey, could have been on one of the past three mixtapes from the Weeknd, but it wouldn't have featured the sharp production, the radio-ready chorus or the aforementioned guest vocals. It probably would've been longer and necessary and would have had more in-your-face stoner vibes than the streets of Colorado. Now, it feels eloquent, smooth and just right.
No artist in recent memory has made a change like this by choice the way the weeknd has. He went from folding clothes in an American Apparel to collaborating with Ed Sheeran and headlining the VMAs. That's like going from the company's flag football team to the NFL in five years. It's an unheard of transformation that will be too memorable not to talk about for years.
The answer remains to be seen, but it seems safe to say he never will — by no fault of his own. Audiences move too quickly and jump from artist to artist like a kangaroo on a coffee binge. (Not to mention Jackson was and continues to be the King of Pop for the better part of 25 years.)
It's a fascinating career arc that, if continued, will cement Tesfaye as this generation's Michael Jackson. Will he have the impact of Jackson and live in infamy the way Jackson does?
But that's okay. The Weeknd is here now, doing something no one else is in a way no one could have anticipated.
MATT SAYIES/AP
And I think that's probably just enough for us and Abel Tesfaye.
The Weeknd performs at the MTV Video Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater on Aug. 30 in Los Angeles...
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Breakfast Tailgate This Saturday! There's a party on the patio and you're invited
Kick off the Jayhawk football season at #TailgateAtTheU! Join hundreds of other Jayhawks this Saturday, on the Level 1 Patio of the Kansas Union, starting at 8:00 am.
Each home game, the BEST tailgate party happens right across from Memorial Stadium.
Enjoy a yummy $5 breakfast buffet and check out the KU Fan Shop. Take in the site that is the glorious Memorial Stadium. Take your photo with our Big jay. And about two hours before game time, cheer the team on to victory at a pep rally featuring the KU Band and Cheerleaders!
Then, mark your calendar—we'll host this tailgate three hours prior to every home game! Here's our tailgate schedule for September.
Sat, Sept. 5
v. South Dakota State
Tailgate starts at 8 am, Kick-Off at 11:00 am
Sat, Sept. 5
Sat, Sept. 12 (Family Weekend/Band Day)
v. Memphis
Tailgate starts at 3:00pm, Kick-Off at 6 pm
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