By James A. Vezos —
Mary-Ellen Campbell’s soothing and enigmatic art exhibit, “Journeys: 30 Years of Art-making” will be on display at New Jersey City University’s Visual Arts Gallery now through February 26.
The recently retired NJCU art professor participated in over 75 group and invitational exhibitions, with 16-national/international solo exhibits, spanning from New York and New Jersey to galleries in Thailand and Nicaragua.
In this exhibit Campbell is displaying her paintings, sculptures, photography, video, collages, montages, and book art. Instilled within her work are moments of transcendence, ever-lasting memories, and a fondness for life and cultural understanding during her travels around the world.
“As a mixed media artist I have used natural objects both as inspiration and physically in my work for many years. I am constantly inspired by the forms, relationships and elements of time in these objects as they deconstruct. Since I travel often, I often use objects such as rocks, wood and craft items that I find in different places in my work,” Campbell states on her website mecampbellart.com.
Having visited over 55 countries, her art becomes the embodiment of her experiences represented by each location’s unique culture, people, and environment.
This retrospective becomes the gateway to a myriad of feelings that Campbell recreates with impressionistic styles, providing the viewer an invitation to both her physical and mental attention to the world around her.
Much of the art shown in the gallery emits calming, peaceful, and vivacious qualities due to Campbell’s sentiments towards nature and the human experience; her book art proves to be the finest medium for all of these sensations.
“My concepts vary with inspirations from popular culture, metaphors for emotions and the realities of life found in nature and pure imagination. I began writing poetry a few years ago and these have inspired several books of poems and images,” she says on her website.
After studying with some of the leading book artists of the time, Campbell acquired a technical ability to create aesthetically pleasing books by using different materials and binding techniques. Campbell’s books are constructed from various means such as sloppy discs, soda cans, sticks, leaves, rocks, rope, and vine. She also integrates her poetry, watercolor paintings, and travel journals into her books.
Besides her fine-tuned craft in turning nature and other culturally specific items into retrospective slideshows, Campbell is also the creator of work that strikes a darker tone.
Her 2007mixed-medium piece named Nigma reflects the perplexing continuation of war in the 21st century. During this time, orders were sent to deploy over 20,000 American troops into Iraq in order to provide security to Baghdad and the Al Anbar Province.
Nigma is set apart from Campbell’s other works because its eye-catching appearance is not rooted in the beauty of nature or transcended experiences, but in her awareness of the world and the disturbing realities it holds.
Fourteen images of what seem to be live action wartime photographs are assembled on top of a camouflaged background. Moments of death and destruction are portrayed by toy soldiers lying on the ground with streams of blood pouring from their wounds, while other images depict flyovers by jet planes.
This piece attests to the more heartrending qualities of the world. It forces you to realize the desensitization of countless cultures through portrayals of fallen toy soldiers. Nigma then becomes the culminated absence of humanity’s rational.
“Journeys: 30 Years of Art-making” gallery hours are 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and by appointment at the Universities’ Visual Arts Gallery, 100 Culver Avenue in Jersey City. Admission is free. The last day to view the exhibit will be February 26.
