Mary Hambleton’s Hard Rain Exhibit
The “Hard Rain” gallery exhibition of works by Mary Hambleton may be some of the most “normal” pieces of artwork that we’ve studied in this class so far. Perhaps this is due to the more tradition style of “art form” used by Hambleton, or even the relatively appealing designs and shaps in her works. Whatever the reason, it seemed that most, if not everyone in the class to at least appreciate the works in one way or another.
It is clear from the introduction by Tiffany Bell that Hambleton focused on art using abstractions of color, shape, idea, and more particularly, her cancer. Understanding the background of Hambleton played a big role in understanding her art. Hard Rain was an exhibit of her late works, and it was very clear how these late works differed from some of the early works mentioned in the article by Bell.
Several things struck me as memorable in this gallery. First was the liberal use of PET scans in many of the works that were probably very reflecive in nature. As Asheley mentioned in her response, these works carry a feeling of life and death, which many viewers may not be so quick to embrace. The thought of the possiblity of one’s own demise is often enough to turn one away from such works. The second piece that stood out was Enough. This work was drastically different asthetically compared to everything else in the gallery. The idea was clear: she has had enough. While at the gallery, Breanna mentioned to me that it was an extremely depression piece. I agree. But I think such a piece really helps to complete the gallery by showing the frustrated side of Hambleton during her late years.
Lastly, I would like to bring up Waiting for a Miracle and Hard Rain as two of my favorite pieces. Waiting for a Miracle strongly connected the essence of life, death, time, and how they change. The blocks above the “timeline” emphasize some ideas of life that Hambleton was probably thinking about at the time. I feel that Hard Rain is a perfect example of how Hambleton endows her work with the “spritual or mythical content” that Bell mentions. It has a hint of what I believe is in some of her early works while possesing other features similar to her late works. A very thoughtful piece.
This exhibit obviously relates the both nature and technology in many ways with the PET scans, cancer, and etc. But this is perhaps also the most subtle form of nature/art/technology that we have studied so far and was both enjoyalbe and refreshing.