Raze Raise - Essay Example

The Emmanuel gallery has been mistaken by many for a church. However, historically the gallery was a church and was converted in 1973 to a gallery as stated by Emanuel (1). Recently, Jeff page, a Denver native has been holding a fourteen-piece exhibit which was showing from August 2nd all through to September 6th. Page’s work in raze-raise symbolizes the gay male subculture of Denver. Most of the pieces in the work are made of human hair, latex, and pelts.

The major attraction of this piece of art is the Raze, the roof piece that is based in the middle of the gallery. This structure made of human hair, acrylic, wood, and latex rubber gives the viewer the opportunity to create individual meaning. Hen one stands close to this piece of art, there are sound bites coming from the loop. Page was able to record the imaginative process when making the exhibit. The page also recorded sounds from different gay nightclubs found in Denver. The recording reverberates throughout the gallery producing an ambiance of loneliness in the crowd.

The blend of art, destiny, and subject combination in the raze raise piece of art attracts a feeling that is not easy to replicate. A real photograph explains everything from its appearance though it also needs some written explanation. Jeff Page was born in Denver and acquired his BFA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the San Fransisco Art Institute. Page’s artwork creation revolves around sculptural mixed media work and 2DD, according to Hamel (1). His works are created using collage, watercolor, acrylic, and different eccentric materials. One of the reasons behind his success in art is his ability to braid concepts, materials, and intuition together. His areas of interest just as depicted in raze raise include the body, nature, psychology, and gender.

The terms raze and raise are both antonyms and homophones, meaning words opposite in meaning and yet pronounced similarly. Page’s work, including raze and raise usually centers on the twofold bonding and differences, especially between nature and the human body. He normally explores his ideas using the experimental procedure of creating unrelated materials frequently sticking them together and then tearing them separately. This procedure physically and visually unites the two materials thus generating a unified “skin.”

For raze raise art exhibition, Page gathered audio from queer settings, pieces of wood, redundant hair, a chain of poured latex skins, boards to form a structure, a chain of pelts, a mass of beards, and pulses of sound. All these, according to him, together represent a feeling of transcendence and a sight in the Raze and the Raise of the gay male subculture.  According to Rinaldi (1), Page’s raze-raise artwork reflects how all men view each other, these comprise men who want to walk in other men’s shoes. By combining media and turning his pelts into specimens, he compels us to consider the basics that make up our external shells as a mixture of identical and natural parts instead of singular options.