Projection art, while not entirely unheard of in this town, is still rare enough that I could not miss out on the opportunity to ditch my screen and make the short trek into the heart of downtown to see the work of students in Santa Barbara High’s Visual Arts and Design Academy (VADA) projected on the side of the Lobero Theatre.
I desperately miss art shows: getting dressed up, watching proud parents taking pictures of their youngsters standing next to their artwork, overhearing the oohs and awws of it all. Most of all I miss perusing galleries by myself on a mellow afternoon and stopping in my tracks at a piece of art and being able to make a personal connection to it. In a small, but intimate gathering last Saturday evening in the parking lot behind the Lobero, watching the lights flicker one image after another, I was able to do exactly that.
Perhaps because I don’t know many teenagers and it’s been a number of years since I have been one, I found myself utterly blown away by their sheer talent. And not just talent as in technical skill, but the ability to transmit the complexity of their being into something that could evoke feelings of joy, isolation, anxiety, resilience, confusion and good ol’ teenage angst. There were some pieces that captured the underbelly of those most tedious years such as a young girl huddled in despair, crouched in a harsh spotlight, her hand and hair covering her face; and a portrait of one’s face appearing to be torn open with two little eyes engulfed in the darkness (think Geena Davis’ character in Beetlejuice).