Heaps of Rubble: A Review of Angelina Gualdoni's "Proposals for Remnants"

Electing subject matter that is negligible and often abrasive to the eye, Angelina Gualdoni has extended the commonplace phrase of “beauty in the eye of the beholder” to the final products of her collection. Each piece illuminates the desolate and fragmented residue of miscellaneous items surrendered to decay and resulting futility. However, they are presented in light of warm, dream-like swirls of color and are arranged in geometric compositions, indicating there is more to be understood beyond the seemingly ordinary heaps of rubble. Gualdoni’s investigation into the apparent beautification of waste and discarded materials hints at themes of rebirth, purpose, and even glamour.

A cursory glance of the exhibition and all that would be grasped at is a painting style reminiscent of abstract expressionism. Upon closer inspection, however, Gualdoni’s technique is anything but standard and reliant on past traditions. Dependent upon unprimed, raw canvas, Gualdoni’s style combines brushstrokes, drippings, splattering, and staining of acrylic and oil paint. Paint is poured directly onto the canvas, evoking a sense of immediacy and animation. While her technique stems from the practices of color field painter Morris Louis, where paint exists solely as paint, Gualdoni addresses her works in a more personal manner. For instance, to make a distinction, whereas in Morris Louis’s 1960 Alpha-Pi, the absence of the artist in directly molding the final creation is substituted by the free will of the paint, Gualdoni’s “Proposals for Remnants” require the specific undertakings of the artist. Although the material essence of paint is still applicable, Gualdoni’s works take a more serious hand by lending her thoughts to making metaphors from the disarray of discordant materials. These evidences of decaying waste are more significant than the subjectivity of materiality as in Louis’s works.

Each piece, though indicative of the same process, carries a story and unique mood of its own. As a collective unit, each work possesses a similar background of blended colors, formed by a staining/wash method that loosely allows paint to drip to the edges of the canvas. Notwithstanding, the size, shape, and location on canvas of the debris chosen for concentration, the selection and range of colors, the texture and number of paint layers applied, as well as the size of the canvas varies between each of her works.

Before entry into the gallery, the first painting to encounter, Untitled, gives a sneak preview of the remaining collection. A somewhat childish depiction of a sailboat amidst a disaster scene of fire and explosion indicates a catastrophe. Yet the event is pictured in a pyramid formation and is painted in soft hues of primary colors. The odd yet delicate nature of the painting gives rise to peaked interest. It is a welcoming starting point for Gualdoni’s Proposals for Remnants.

In the confines of the actual gallery, the largest, and consequently, the most visually attractive pieces are displayed directly across from one another. Aside from physical dimensions, they are complementary opposites. Blush, the most ostentatiously eye-catching piece, with its bright rose-red and yellow-orange shades, sheds light upon another pyramid pile of miscellaneous rubble. This triangular form is a motif that reoccurs in other pieces like “Odds and Ends.” Although outlines suggest the forms of a stool, overturned table, and scattered books, it remains, unperturbed, an enigmatic structure. At a far distance, the pale background, thickened with swift brushstrokes alternating between horizontal and vertical, interspersed with bleeding techniques, make the work deceiving. The pile of wreckage could easily pass as a pile of toys in a child’s playroom. Over all the other works, it is the most luminescent. The more somber counterpart to “Blush,” “March Through April,” painted in army greens and blacks, exudes an eerie quality. Identifiable objects consist of jagged rocks and shattered windows. Though it evokes a more natural setting, the subject materials in this painting have no conjunction with one another, strewn randomly across a barren floor and appearing lost within the painting. Both works romantically illustrate anonymous clusters of remains but do not delve into their purposes.

Remote from the other pieces in the exhibition, the most strikingly inharmonious is “Cosmic Painting.” As its title indicates, the work illustrates an outerspace scene, fit with floating fragments resembling asteroids and meteors. Though lacking a main subject of a pile of rubble uniform to all the other works, “Cosmic Painting” develops the same technique. Additionally, a sense of lurking potential for the dispersed objects nags at the viewer.

The title “Proposals for Remnants” has two conflicting goals. For one, the use of the term “remnants,” though markedly vague, forms boundary lines for the viewer’s imagination. For each piece in Gualdoni’s exhibition, the abstract subject at hand has already been determined, “remnant,” meaning excess or undesired scraps. As such, the viewer can not stretch the analysis of what he sees. In contrast, the “proposals” portion of the title gives way to intense uncertainty and much questioning on the part of the spectator. One might inquire, “proposals for what intention?” Given the brief title, it is understood that Gualdoni’s pieces illuminate “remnants,” but as for the “proposals,” this is to remain a grappling issue for viewers. In this way, as ambiguity claims possession of her works, Gualdoni leaves her fans and critics in a state of understanding yet confusion. The potential of the heaps of rubble are to be decided on the viewer’s part.

By producing this state of half comprehension half doubt within the viewer, Angelina Gualdoni is a magician in her artistic ways. To further the irony, Gualdoni paints these messes in an organized fashion, inferring the continual existence of discarded objects. She makes a proposition against the idea of the eventual dissipation and disappearance of refuse. Collected and gathered together, her heaps of rubble purport that abandonment can lead to prospective uses. Possible arguments for recycling, reconstruction, and perhaps even unexpected beauty encircle her works.

An Ugly Recession: How Americans Should Save that Extra $1

The term recession commonly refers to two or more quarters of a declining Gross Domestic Product (GDP), though this definition fails to account for changes in other variables as unemployment rate. I call it ugly because the situation has evolved into a massive and global disorientation of blame, shame, and one hell of a challenging game. We’ve been in recession since December 2007, and economists predict this catastrophe could continue well into 2010! Presently, Americans are plagued with the continual crashing of the stock exchange, job losses highest since 1945, as well as problems carried over from previous years…we are still battling terrorism, right? I mean, where on earth is Osama Bin Laden?

Trapped in this rut, what do we do? Do you wish we could click our heels together, close are eyes, and magically reverse this chaos? Or are my good fellow Americans to be reduced to the blame game, scapegoating George W. Bush? True or not, the bills and empty fridge will still be waiting. So how are we coping with this ongoing tragedy? We should be picking up every last Abe Lincoln face we see in passing that we would have overlooked otherwise. But here you will find a list of comforts we fellow Americans have settled upon, when jumping into this recession, depression, whatever you like to call it.


1. Say hello to Ronald McDonald

McDonalds, or as I like to call it, corporate America’s finest franchise, now includes a dollar menu! So leave your plastic at home, my fellow comrades, grab a few dollars, and treat yourself to the notoriously juicy, yet heartburn provoking Big Mac. Fast food restaurants are a booming success in America, our nation being all about the cheap and fast. It is exactly what a suffering U.S. needs today. The ostentatiously tacky red and yellow logo is a worldwide symbol. It is a ubiquitous sign for fun, youth, equal opportunity, and the all American way. So why has Evanston failed in bringing one to a college campus, where students will most likely crowd? It would be a hot spot. Perhaps it’s a result of its competitor BK? Or did the 2004 documentary “Super Size Me” really have a detrimental effect on the corporation? Nevertheless, McDonalds is one of few businesses to profit during the recession. I suppose, despite raging health concerns, we Americans have decided upon money over potential health issues.


2. …and goodbye to Starbucks

Rivaling the predominance of the red and yellow sign, is the more sophisticated, circular, green, “is it a mermaid?” design shouting from every street corner. Starbucks, now almost synonymous with the word “coffee,” is an ever expanding trend we can’t live without, like oxygen for our lungs, and an absolute necessity for sleep deprived college students, workaholic businessmen, and the likes. My daily order switches from a vente house coffee to a frappe of my choosing. Thinking about it, I may have tried every single item on their menu. Most customers spend on average $3.50 to $4 on each trip. For loyal visitors, that adds up to a nice little fortune. Maybe we should resort to brewing our own coffee at home? Retracing steps back to the brand logo, I’ve never examined it closely enough, but recently discovered that it depicts a siren. Previously, the female icon exposed the bare chest, nipples and all, but the logo was eventually altered to be more “family friendly” or respectfully conservative. However, whatever sexy logo Starbucks chooses, it’s damn good coffee.


3. Nobody smokes anymore!

I rarely see smoking pedestrians anymore. A congratulatory pat on the back is owed to a health conscious U.S. The only locations on campus I ever find a cluster of smokers are at the exits of Kresge (the stereotype about artists and smoking might prove true) and on Church street where homeless men loiter. Honestly, I feel guilty smoking in the presence of others, in such an intense, anti-smoking society. To add, I despise all stereotypes attached to the act of smoking, though the negative stigma does assist in discouraging citizens from inhaling the harmful toxin. Another disappointment is the raise on cigarette taxes. A pack in Chicago amounts to $8.17, outrageous! As a habitual smoker, every week is a dip into my savings. Speaking in mathematical terms, I could purchase a meal for two at Mickey Dees for every pack of Camel Lights I buy. What a bummer…


4. The Blackberry

A couple weeks back, I saw a panhandler on his mobile, chatting away, and found the situation ironically distasteful. But then again, who can live without a cell these days, especially in a super technologically advanced society where Blackberries are almost as common as cars on the street? These gadgets (and I mean that in the best sense possible) are making our individualist America all the more homogenous. They’ve transcended what was typically considered a luxury to the norm…the reasoning? Do they help us fit in or improve our feeling of intellect? Personally, I don’t understand why I have one (too many buttons and options)…maybe it’s in a superficial attempt to toy with something complex as to not feel so bored during lecture or on my way to class.


5. Illegal downloading…Yes torrent!

UTorrent is the college student’s heaven for free movies and music. In the creation of this online computer program, dvd rentals and cds have become outdated, meaning trouble for companies and bliss for us. It’s just another way to salvage every penny and rock and roll through this recession.