The Daily Campus

Issue date: 9/28/05 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Tim Colegrove

Just as art is open to interpretation, a kiss has its own unique translation. The School of Fine Arts is featuring an exhibition entitled "When a Kiss Isn't Just a Kiss," which runs until the end of October in the Contemporary Art Galleries. Usually the term "art gallery" brings the boring notion of a more mature audience discussing paintings and other art forms in terms that boggle our minds. Walk into the Contemporary Art Galleries exhibition on kissing and you will be intrigued by all the different media represented-photography, video, watercolors, comic book animation and, yes, mascara on canvas.

Barry Rosenberg, director of the Contemporary Art Galleries, created the exhibit to use the familiar action of kissing as a way to direct our attention to more pressing issues of the world.

"The metaphor of kissing can be used to deal with issues such as gender, politics, and so forth," Rosenberg said.

"When a Kiss Isn't Just a Kiss" presents famous contemporary artists such as Nikki S. Lee, Andy Warhol, Rachael Mason and Janine Anton. A unique feature of this exhibit is that most of the artists are featured in their own work. Nikki S. Lee is one of the two females in her photo "Lesbian Series #14." Janine Anton is photographed licking the eye of her husband in "Mortart and Prestie." As explained by Rosenberg, the artist created this particular piece in an effort to "taste his vision." The political sculpture "Kissing George Bush" was created by Rachael Mason.

The artists featured in this exhibit are trying to display the many meanings of a kiss. It's a passionate moment between a man and a woman. It's a love/hate embrace between two brothers. It's a woman spending months wiping her eyelashes on a canvas and calling it "Butterfly Kisses." "If a kiss is thought to be delicious," Rosenberg said. "then here you will find a full course meal."

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