Photography, cinema students and Point Park alumni put together a culmination of works in “Hallucinations,” an exhibit presented by The Fix Magazine on March 19.
The Fix, the student-run art publication, showcased the work of 13 different students in its exhibition at Artist Image Resource in Central Northside.
This year’s theme, which was decided far in advance according to Photography Lab Manager Camryn Drabenstadt, related to what sometimes feels fake or is visually hard to understand. She also said it was open-ended to give more leeway to artists.
Additionally, several participants were Point Park alumni. Drabenstadt said this was done because of their works fitting with the theme, plus to go with the university’s ideas of alumni connections.
Almost every work in the exhibition was a pigment print, with a few exceptions on Giclee, an acrylic painting on canvas and a one-page zine.
Travis Mitzel, a 2011 Point Park graduate who also graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019, created “3420 days as an Axolotl, or Reflections on Cortázar.” His work was featured in the exhibition, showing himself looking through a small aquarium that has his face reflected through the aquarium glass three times.
And in that aquarium, an axolotl sits, looking at Mitzel. His works typically involve non-human subjects and ecological themes.
“I wanted to think about different ways hallucination appears in animal culture and ecology,” Mitzel said. “It is based on a short story by Julio Cortázar called Axolotl…in the story, a man visits the axolotl at the aquarium and stares at it until he thinks he has become the axolotl.”
Mitzel said he raises axolotls and strongly appreciates them as animals. He said he loves the way they gaze at subjects, but ultimately wanted the reflections in his piece to be him, not the axolotl.
The theme of ecology in his artistic work is based on his life experiences. Mitzel said he’s been around captive animals almost his whole life, which he says intersects with genetic engineering, the climate crisis and the sixth mass extinction event – all areas of interest for him.
“I think looking at the Earth through the lens of the current movement – a climate disaster and an extinction event – is useful,” Mitzel said. “I like to try to reframe how we think about the current animals on earth; what will their futures be? Captive animals were overlooked by institutions and are considered less than in a scientific hierarchy, but I fear we may be heading towards a future where some of these species only exist as captives… and then what?”
Dan Winter, a 2017 BFA photography graduate, created the only submission which was not a photograph. He describes his work as what “blurs the line between art and low humor.” His creation, “OHP!,” depicted an orange cat in a green sofa chair, crying while presumably on the phone with a small gray mouse perched up on the same chair.
Winter cited some of his artistic influences as William Hogarth, Duane Michals, and Maurizio Cattelan.
Other works included familiar places near or on campus. Lindsey Palmer, a 2015 BFA photography graduate, included her work, “A Place for the Sun to Rest,” which is a photo of the tree growing out near the Wood-Allies parking garage in black and white. Millie Prisinzano, a junior cinema major, photographed two areas in Lawrence Hall as part of their work, “Untitled.”
The next gallery opportunity for Point Park students’ work is the senior thesis showing, which goes from April 13 to April 30.
