Gallery Viewing

Andrea Borsuk’s Gallery, Leap of Faith

            This particular exhibition caught my eye immediately. It was specially created and personalized for The Nevada Art Museum. Borsuk is originally from Santa Cruz and moved here to Reno. Leap of Faith portrays the journey she took as well as other hidden meanings. Borsuk has a unique and noticeable medium in that she also includes objects to further enrich her work.

With the works there are paintings on canvas, paintings on cloths, and objects to enhance her symbolization. There are throw ropes and ring buoys which are said to be recurring objects she uses in other works. Borsuk finds it interesting that there are cultural obsessions with objects or rituals for protection, good luck, or the feeling of safety from these objects and rituals. To symbolize this she has horse shoes and rabbit ears. Borsuk is also trying to portray the journey of life as a whole, not just her journey. She wanted to show life is unpredictable and ever changing for everyone, which is a point that all people can relate to. When observing her work it is mostly composed of cool colors with highlights here and there of a vibrant orange. Then, there are people leaping and flying through the paintings, hence the title, Leap of Faith. Other objects in her exhibition that I found interesting were a magic eight ball, feathers, and pearls. In her artist statement it also says she is trying to represent Greek goddesses by showing the jewels, for a representation as another safety device that people would look up to for protection or their personal needs

I really enjoy the thought put into this work as well as the objects that really enhance and complete the exhibition. The objects further solidify all of the hidden meanings she has in her works, although to fully understand this exhibition one would need the artist statement. Visually Borsuk’s work is very pleasing because of these subtle touches as well as use of color.