On display in the UTSA Main Art Gallery from Jan. 22-Feb. 28 is “Do you really believe that?” — a travelling exhibit dedicated to Frances Colpitt following her death in 2022. Colpitt, who holds a doctorate in art history, was an associate professor at UTSA for fifteen years from 1990-2005. It was previously on display at Texas Christian University from Aug. 30-Nov. 16, 2024. After her time at UTSA, Colpitt taught from 2005-2021 at TCU. The exhibit’s title derives from a question she posed to students when making an observation in class. “Do you really believe that?” focuses on abstract, minimalist and conceptual art.
Some of the featured artists include Sharon Engelstein and Hector A. Ramirez. Engelstein’s pieces include “Found” and “Sleeper” — both composed in 2017 and being sculptures of organic shapes using glazed ceramic. Ramirez’s “Carpet Shoes” and “Orange peel” were made in 2016 and 2018, respectively.“Carpet Shoes” utilizes carpet, leather shoes and hardwood flooring., while “Orange peel” was created using drywall texture and paint on a panel.
As one gazes upon the works, confusion encases the audience. Engelstein’s works seemed to be blobs, while Ramirez’s works are painted canvases depicting nothing and shoes sitting upon a floor. Closer examination reveals the little details that beg viewers to wonder about the intentionality of the pieces. In these tiny features that may be choice or chance, art is made.
“So these two things, it’s the same form,” said Engelstein of two of her earlier works. “But if I show it this way and then show it this way, toppled over, it becomes a very different thing, or they become interactive with each other.”
This can be perfectly applied to both pieces by Engelstein. The two may seem derivative of one another and simple at first. Some may question, “How is this art?” It is in the process and the exploration that Engelstein’s art occurs. The final pieces are not meant to spark wonder within the viewer. Instead, the viewer wonders how they would have gone about the piece and perhaps how they would have done it differently. In this difference, conversation is made. Thus, art is made.
The same can be said of Ramirez’s works. Perhaps when making “Orange peels,” a different artist would have done one more layer of paint or gone a different direction with the brushstroke. The shoe laces in “Carpet Shoes” may have been strung differently if Engelstein had made the piece. The layout leaves questions for the artists and the audience, questions that do not always require an answer.
The pieces throughout “Do you really believe that?” do not scream out art. Many of the artworks simply look like placed objects, such as the folded map of the Sunset Strip in Edward Ruscha’s “Every Building on the Sunset Strip” and the projector lens collecting dust at the center of Casey Leone’s “Untitled (sweet).” It is the silent conversation of judgment and contemplation that creates artistic value. The purpose of the gallery is for audiences to take a moment and ask themselves “Do you really believe that?”
The exhibit will be featured in the UTSA Main Art Gallery until Feb 28. The gallery is open Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
