BA BFA Exxibit
John Phillipick. Through The Doorway, 2007, Charcoal
When I rounded the corner to the art building I was not immediately drawn to John’s work. I saw the color pieces next to his and looked at them first. Normally realistic work is my thing, and that is what Through The Doorway, created in charcoal is. I think the fact that Phillipick’s piece is a black and white is what did not initially attract me.
His work was definitely realistic looking dimensionally, and reading the description of John’s art does suggest that realism is one of his goals. Through The Doorway is a life size representation of an open door created with charcoal on paper. John hung his work so that the bottom of the door meets the floor, this further adds to the illusion of reality. But I think there is one more thing he should of done to make this art look really trompe l’oeil.
He should have added color! Although the art building is made up of mostly black, white and shades of grey, an artist can always see shades of color in these building elements. Using color would have made the door even more realistic looking. One of Phillipick’s goals I think was to trick people into thinking this was a real door. If charcoal does not come in color I think he should have used a different media. Had he done this I think I may have been originally drawn to his work first, rather than the color pieces I viewed before his.
But I do not want to be to mean sounding about this. After all I was attracted to this piece and did choose his art to write about over all others. I do want to say that I thought that the door was rendered very well. It was an old wood door that he added a crack in, which did look very realistic. I think that I am learning something about myself doing all of these response writings. I have a critical nature! I write about what I find wrong with works a lot. I hope this is not a character flaw