Graphic design is the theme of this week’s art exhibit. Three UTM Graphic Design seniors, Michael Piazza, Bradley Sartain and Virgil Ware have their works displayed at the Fine Arts Building.

“Graphic Design is a combination of creative and practical elements,” said Douglas Cook, Chair of the Visual and Theatre Arts Departmkent. “Many find work in advertisement industry.”

Bradley Sartain writes in his Artist’s Statement on what a big role the art has been playing throughout his life. He fell in love with art early in his childhood and started out drawing comic book characters. He would join in “drawing competitions” with his friends so, as he writes, he had to be persistent and drive himself to the limits.

“One of the best things I like about being a graphic designer is the fact that my work will be always in the view of the public, while my identity as an artist will never be known,” Sartain wrote. That way, “You get to see the true reaction of the people viewing the work.” Another thing he likes about that field is its “technological aspect.”

“Being a graphic designer allows me the ability to learn how to alter almost all of the things that can be done by hand and would take forever to do,” Sartain wrote. “Just a few clicks of the mouse makes the graphic designer work look so much cleaner.”

One of his most interesting displayed works is an ad with a question “Ever being hung up at the airport?”with a rope and the picture of a hangman’s noose over each of the passenger seats. Sartain’s other works included a UTM phonebook cover, a magazine cover, more ads and some ink geometric drawings and a black and white complex figure made of a composition of black construction paper shapes glued to a white sheet of paper.

The works of Vigil Ware reflect his love for basketball, as he wrote in his Artist Statement.

“All my life, I was more interested in playing basketball, never thinking of art until I got involved with it. It was in high school doing 3-dimensional drawings and perspective drawing. I believe that you got to give all forms of art a chance. You can learn so much and it can broaden your imagination and take your vision to a whole new place.”

His works mostly include computer-made ads and magazine covers. One is a newspaper article called “Flying Colors” which was about the Union City Airport’s aviation airflow of September. Finally, “Violet” is a black and white photograph of violets, which has been digitally altered so that only a single flower appears in color. This manipulation of a photography shows just how much color can influence the mood, and have such a gravitational affect on our eyes. Of all three artists, Michael Piazza had more illustration pictures than graphic design works.

“He has a great ability as an illustrator and was able to combine it with computer skills and graphic design skills,” said Dr. Cook. “It has a great impact on the computer.”

In his Artist’s Statement Piazza wrote, “It has sharpened my focus and understanding of life. It has helped me to maintain organized ways and on some occasions, it has not only helped me to think outside the box but to see outside the box.”

As some viewers noted, most of Piazza’s works displayed comics book scenes and characters.

“It reminds me of the rock band Tool,” said John Ciniglio, a freshman Philosophy major.

“It is more of a comic book, videogame, pop culture type of art,” said Chris Stockdole, a senior Psychology major.

Those interesting artworks are still on the display at the Fine Arts Building, so don’t forget to check them out