Art exhibit lures attendees with unique pieces

Santa Ana College’s Art Gallery debuted “Three Strong Women” on Sep. 11, featuring the work of sculptor Gina Herrera, welder Veronica Preciado, and painter Katherine Zhukovsky. The exhibit was created by Gallery Director Philip Marquez after meeting the individual artists and being moved by their work.

Upon entry, oil and pastel paintings of bald, nude women carrying their own heads, stared at me with a sad expression. The six similar paintings of Katherine Zhukovsky earned my best of show award. Zhukovsky’s emotions seeped through her paintings, which created the most personal experience in the whole art exhibit. The desperation of her portraits personally resonated with me as it brought up painful memories of being at my lowest during a vicious break up.

In the piece titled “In the Dream House,” a nude female sobs while sitting alone in a dark brown room surrounded by large paint cans. The woman breaks the barriers of the canvas and feels like she was crying out to me for help. Her visible agony creates a visceral reaction, and I was able to relate to the subject’s visible agony.

Gina Herrera’s sculptures, made up of twisted rebars, mannequin legs, giant woven sheets of metal, and dolls with multi-colored yarn for hair, hit me with sensory overload. Around six feet tall, the complex sculpture looked like a successful trip to the junkyard and turning the finds into art. Herrera twisted my brain like she did her sculptures. The scatter of random pieces took over a half hour to fully register in my disoriented head, and made for a rewarding experience finding new trinkets.

Though her four sculptures of similar design were impressive, the inclusion of the simple drawing “Welcomed Beginning,” displaying a bird softly lit by a yellow sun, was a let down considering the intense creativity and personality in her other pieces.

The seven colorful, steel luchador masks created by Veronica Preciado were overshadowed by the sculptures and paintings in the exhibit. As a Chicano, I appreciated how the masks were injected with the DNA of Mexican American culture, reminding me of my own upbringing. But, as a general spectator of the exhibit, the masks did not hold much visible detail.

The “62 Impala mask,” features pearlescent green and yellow paint but not much else beyond its glittering colors. The dullness of the masks after seeing Herrera and Zhukovsky’s work was like finding a tattered Goodfellas shirt at your local Goodwill right after finding a vintage Ralph Lauren leather jacket.

The art show is open to the public until Nov. 21, Mon-Thurs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and additionally opened 4-6 p.m. on Wed-Thurs.