Art Center Grad Show, August 2023 (Photo – Garrett Rowlan)
A glimpse of the ArtCenter Grad Show is always a snapshot of the future.
By Garrett Rowlan
In the various disciplines, on display in the Pasadena Convention Center, gathered around the various aspects of design, one always senses a new wrinkle.
Putting on the headsets of Mingshan Wang, one is immediate thrust inside a virtual road whose conditions can be augmented to suit the needs of any particular subset of drivers. One wonders how long it will be until our local DMV will conduct driving tests in individual stalls with a virtual road walled off from the real one?
Jada Suphanochakul’s modular furniture tackles “the future of sitting on the floor,” as he phrases it, with lifted seats envisioned to avoid the issue of blocked blood circulation. His seats are conceived within the Japanese domestic tradition.
Beatriz de Abrue’s landscapes strike a realistic note of urban wonder and urban decay, intended, she says, for gaming but one senses a cinematic interest here.
A local painter, Jacob Van Oosten from San Gabriel, conceives striking images. Most impressive was the depiction of a Lone Ranger, maskless, contemplating a western landscape while leaning against his trusty horse Silver.
All in all, the 2023 ArtCenter Grad show in Exhibit Hall B, is a dazzling, even overwhelming, vision of what it might be like to be alive the day after tomorrow.
(L-R) Mingshan Wang, Jada Suphanochakul, Beatriz Abreu, and Jacob Van Oosten (Photos – Garrett Rowlan)
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