Artist: Sage Garver
Exhibition: BIO
Media: Sculpture, Metal
Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Dennis W. Dutzi Gallery
Website: N/A
Instagram: N/A
About the Artist:
Sage Garver is an undergraduate student who is part of CSULB School of Art’s Sculpture Program. Therefore she will be obtaining a BFA Sculpture. Being that this is her last year attending Cal State Long Beach, she plans to continue to do more art work after graduation. At this moment she is not planning on going to grad school. Sage wasn’t interested in art until she took an art course at Al Camino College. The course made her realize how fascinated she was with the concept of art. It slowly became a hobby and then part of who she is. Sage has had the opportunity of participating in two other group exhibitions throughout the years. However, BIO was her first solo exhibition. Sage’s hobbies consist of swimming, cooking, hiking and baking.
Formal Analysis:
The BIO exhibition consisted of a beautiful hanging centerpiece and hundreds of sculptured foam that were attached to the four walls of the gallery. The centerpiece was made of gold chains, a sphere like ball, and a fork. The ball like piece was constructed by iridescent plastic film and wire. The plastic film was heated in order to give it more texture and form. As for the sculptured foams, they represented biological sciences. They were shaped differently in order to look like different parts within a cell. Lastly, Sage stated that the fork represented things you put in your body. Sage stated that the most challenging aspect of her exhibition was the installation process. It took a total of three days and up to six people to install the pieces that were displayed on the walls. However, a lot of the work was done by Sage and her friend.
Content Analysis:
The BIO exhibition was an extremely personal exhibition for Sage because it was inspired by illnesses that she had to experience. The gallery is essentially a cell, with the centerpiece acting as the nucleus, and the pieces on the walls acting as different parts within the cell such as ribosomes, mitochondria, Golgi apparatus, and so on. However, the gallery is infected with a systematic mutation, which can lead to illnesses, abnormal growths and transformations. Although a gallery, can’t physically become ill, Sage can. Sage stated that she experienced a lot of health problems, which caused her to be held back.
My Experience:
Sage Garver’s exhibition was extremely beautiful and I loved everything about it. I loved the colorful centerpiece and the foam sculptures. I loved how Sage was able to create the exhibition based on the illnesses that she had to experience. My favorite part of her exhibition, had to be all the different parts within the cell. She was able to put so much detail into every single piece, and when you back away from the wall and look at it whole it’s one big masterpieces. All four walls were amazing, it saddens me to know that next week her pieces won’t be up anymore.
Melissa Rios 