Four North Shore students are featured in an exhibit of young Long Island artists in Huntington.
After receiving 385 works from a record-breaking 62 Long Island high schools, judges narrowed it down to 80 pieces for the “Long Island’s Best: Young Artists” exhibit at the Heckscher Museum of Art, on display through April 15.
Manhasset junior Isabelle Lin placed second in the juried competition for the Judith Sposato Memorial award for her painting, “Who I am/Who am I.”
Corey Seng, a Great Neck South senior, is also featured in the exhibit with his photograph “Butcher,” as well as new Hyde Park Memorial sophomore Katie Gutiérrez for her mixed media piece “Millennial Benchmarks” and Roslyn senior Morgan Davey for photograph “2:50 p.m.”
For the contest, students were encouraged to use Heckscher Museum in Heckscher Park as a resource and inspiration for their entries, and Great Neck South art teacher Lisa Stancati encouraged her students to think outside the box.
“Part of what I directed the kids to do was not be so literal about looking at a work of art and emulating the style of the artist,” Stancati said. “We had to push past the obvious, and I think that’s what Corey did with his piece. He saw something at the museum, and he translated that moment into his piece.”
Seng was a student in Stancati’s advanced photography class and was awarded honorable mention in the contest. Stancati described Seng as a hard-working a driven student.
In his artist statement about the piece, Seng said he was influenced by “A Mother’s Anguish, Ruins of Orlov City” by Mark Markov-Grinberg.
“Intrigued and captivated by the timeless nature of his photograph ‘A Mother’s Anguish, Ruins of Orlov City,’ I attempted to create a similar effect using my own setting and technique,” Seng wrote. “Grinberg’s photographs capture moments in time in a raw and unfiltered way. Capturing my image within a split second, I sought to recreate the “spur of the moment” effect seen in Grinberg’s image.”
Lin’s acrylic self-portrait was inspired by Jasper Johns’ “Two Flags,” a lithograph print of one American flag above another created to celebrate the Whitney Museum of American Art’s 50th anniversary.
“Flags are a strong representation of who we are and Johns’ imagery expresses a sense of patriotism,” Lin wrote in her artist statement. “In my composition, I present flags from two different countries representing my loyalties to both. I was born in New York, but I grew up in Taiwan, and I have been living on Long Island for the past four years. I often find myself fluctuating between these two countries and cultures and the Johns piece reminded me of this sense of duality.”
Davey’s photograph shows the side of a bright red home at 2:50 p.m. on a clear day, inspired by “This Must Be the Place,” a lithograph print by Roy Lichtenstein.
In her artist statement, Davey said she chose the Lichtenstein piece because of his use of bold primary colors, mostly reds and yellows.
“In my photograph, I wanted to represent the relationship between the three primary colors: blue, yellow, and red,” Davey wrote. “The bright blue sky contrasts with the bold red house and the yellow tones of the grass. The bright red house reflects the industrial designs seen in Lichtenstein’s piece and the white gutter splitting the house in half is reminiscent of his architectural designs. Both my photograph and ‘This Must Be the Place’ allude to the simplicity of color and the industrialized aspects of architecture.
Gutiérrez said she began doodling as a small child, being complimented for her drawings and growing in confidence as an artist through middle school.
Gutiérrez said she credits her art teacher Gregory Vedder with her recent growth as an artist.
“My art teacher definitely helped me build up my art skills,” Gutiérrez said. “He’s introduced me to new medias and styles of art, which has really helped me grow as an artist.”
Gutiérrez’s mixed media piece, she said, is a comment on how the modern world and especially younger generations base their worth on their possessions and accessories.
“Fashion statements for the modern generation should unite people as one, but really what it’s doing is causing anxiety among young people because they relate fashion with self-worth,” Gutiérrez said. “They feel like if they don’t have what everybody else has, like in my case popular shoes, they’re not as important as everyone else. I wanted to show that it’s not about what you wear, it’s about what you are as a person.”
Inspired by Tuesday (Unravelled)” by Richard Karwoski, Gutiérrez said the boots in her piece convey the stereotypes of modern teenagers and the measuring tape represents aspirations for physical appearance.
“Actual measurements are not shown to emphasize my feelings that the numbers are unimportant,” Gutiérrez said. “Millennial Benchmarks expresses that physical appearance should bring people closer to one another, rather than to create anxiety among millennials.”
