The Basement Gallery in the Art building – what you've been missing.....

Ever heard of the basement Gallery on the Art Building? Until a few days ago, neither had I.

Now, many people in the UCD community have loved and enjoyed the Nelson Gallery for years. I myself have been there many times making my way downstairs to see everything from a collection of hand turned wooden bowls to the recent(and favorite so far) Merch Art exhibit. But that's not what this entry is about. I am talking about a room that is located at the far end of the basement hallway in what looks like a forgotten corner next to a boring supply clos

et. The room is simply called “The Basement Gallery”.

The Basement Gallery is however anything but boring. It s a simple format featuring budding artists from the UCD art program. Often their work is hanging crudely with simple paint smudged push pins or binder clips. Some sculptural work is suspended from the the rough exposed rafters with crude bailing wire. Labels for the pieces are often hand written and sometimes in pencil.

The art itself is an exciting mish-mash of works from every medium and any genre. Whatever students are working on. I particularly loved the works of a student named Liam O'Donnell who had both black and white photos of athletes and paintings made with prismacolor pastels, the two types of work having no apparent connection except perhaps to the artist himself. Two feet away from these were 2 large iron girder-like sculptures that seemed to be swimming up stream of all the other displays.

There is no attendant on duty. It's truly a “do it your self and view it yourself” kind of exhibit. One of my favorite things about the exhibit was the visitor's lor which was simply a cheap sketchbook picked up

most likely from the art supply section of the bookstore and tossed onto a small worn table with peeling paint near the entrance. Perhaps because it is a sketchbook with blank pages and no lines, visitors have taken it upon themselves add their own “art” to the exhibit, or at least to the log book. As you thumb through the pages you see a lot of quick cheap comments like “nice work” or “thanks”. Not exactly earth shaking stuff but the illustrations people have added are curious and thought provoking. One picture shows a severed hand with long talons and the words “Haitian Divorce” written on the palm. It's possibly a reference to the Steely Dan song of the same name?

The overall impression you get is that the museum is in a constant state of flux and it's wonderful. You feel that pieces are constantly coming and going as students bring them in fresh from their class reviews or pack them off to their portfolios. The exhibit is a fantastic peek into the life of the art student and perhaps even more the “mind” of the art student.

Photo at top left: Untitled - by Liam O'Donnell , conte and prismacolor pastels

photo at lower right: a page from the visitor's log

The Basement Gallery is located in where else? -the basement of the Art Building at UC Davis and is open all year whenever the building itself is open.