The Buffalo Central Terminal again became a junction of sorts when 35 student artists converged to demonstrate their highly variegated senior theses this Sunday.
The exhibition, titled OIntersecting Spaces,O was scheduled to open at 2 p.m., but patrons began to permeate the icy hallways early. While freezing rain blew across South Buffalo, the terminalOs crumbling entranceway may have offered the pretense of a warmer interior.
However, the abundance of scarves and winter coats told a different story. At the very least, the work on display served as an enjoyable distraction from the cold. Near the entrance, Brendan KingOs OLetOs Hang Them Out to DryO greeted visitors. Two rows of hand-printed riot police formed an imposing corridor in which participants could subvert the images through graffiti and alterations. A moment of levity occurred when one of the real, patrolling police officers asked to be photographed next to one especially lewd print.
OA lot of work went into the etching, let alone printing,O said local artist Drea Milae, 25. OIt was great.O
From 1929 to 1979, the BCT functioned as a major crossroads for rail travel, but like many of BuffaloOs more imposing structures, any semblance of its former grandeur has eroded over decades of neglect and rust; of the windows lining the westerly fa?\0xA4ade, for example, only a handful remain intact. In the past decade, the Terminal Restoration
The pieces submitted by senior fine arts students varied enormously, mirroring the buildingOs heterogeneity of influences. The works ranged from painting to photography, performance to three-dimensional animation.
Without exhausting the plethora of ideas presented, several works indirectly addressed the terminalOs discontinuously inhabited past. Jeannine SwallowOs piece, installed in a private section towards the rear of the Main Concourse, consisted of three large photographs of rooms in abandoned subsidized housing units. Films of people walking around and Oliving-inO were projected upon these images, questioning the placesO histories. Perhaps incidentally, the abandoned rooms bore an uncanny resemblance to the terminal itself, thereby casting a new light on this space as well.
Nicole FelicianoOs OTo 85,O a series of 250 photograph-sized paintings, drawings and prints of family photos, conveyed a similar theme. According to the artistOs statement, the act of recreating these images breathed new life into an Oawkward and mysteriousO past, echoing the terminal restoration effort in which these images were embedded.
Artist Oreen Cohen offered another reverberation of the space, albeit a more visceral one. Cohen sculpted 3-D landscapes, using dirt, hair, dead birds and other organic matter. These landscapes, while disturbing, are also disturbingly natural, showing the simultaneous and chaotic play of decay and regeneration.
Not all of the pieces harmonized with their surroundings, though. While Justin Pierce packaged himself and performed the part of OThomas Troy,O attempting to achieve vapor fame on one side of the concourse, Nicholas MartelliOs iconoclastic OGeneration Why?O deconstructed the idea of celebrity on the other.
Depicted psychedelically subverted images of celebrities, OGeneration Why?O had itsO stars delivering neo-revolutionary maxims, such as ODrop Acid, Not Bombs,O in thought bubbles.
In discussing OGeneration Why?,O Milae cited its connection with the New Sexual Revolution, advocating Odrug use and androgyny, radical politics, culture and New Glam fashion.O
Milae also noted the disjunction between the piece and the archaic history of the BCT.
OThe place is old, gloomy, cold and dilapidated. It doesnOt fit the kids of today.O
Not everyone had qualms with the location, though.
OObviously it was cold,O said biological research scientist Jennie Holmberg, 25, who found charm in the unfinished restoration. OBut I couldnOt think of a better place for this.O
