College isn’t always fun and games, but for graduating art majors, the senior art exhibition is.
“Artcade,” this year’s annual senior art exhibition, has been open since March 21 in the theater lobby of the Don Taft University Center and will remain open until April 18. The exhibition showcases the work of four senior art majors: Annie Nguyen, Roger Atangana, Malika Kuzibaeva and Juan Salazar.
According to Nguyen, the theme, “Artcade,” is not only fun and clever, but also represents the students’ diversity.
“When you walk into an arcade, you see all these different kind of games from all these different periods with all these different themes, and they’re all flashing in your face,” said Nguyen. “For me, that reminds me of how art is. I thought it was a funny idea because not only does it represent that whole diversity, but at the same time it’s really funny.”
Kuzibaeva said the artists’ diversity stems from their different artistic styles.
“We chose ‘Artcade’ because all of our stuff is so different,” said Kuzibaeva. “Roger’s is mostly an illustration, animation kind-of-thing. I’m more of the organized person. Annie’s is more nature-themed colors and kind of chaotic. Juan’s is very colorful, very abstract.”
While the senior art exhibition may symbolize the end of their undergraduate education, this isn’t “game over” for graduating art majors.
Nguyen said, “They say that opportunity is always there, so it’s up to you to find it and take that opportunity.”
The four artists behind the senior art exhibition explained how they got started, what their inspirations are and what’s in store for them in the future.
Annie Nguyen
What made you interested in studying art?
“It’s funny; when I first started here at NSU, I started as a biology major, and I was actually in the dual dental program. After going and shadowing and working in different offices and stuff, I realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I switched into art because that’s something that has always been a part of my life, and it was a big part of high school, too. I entered a bunch of competitions, and it was a calling for me. They always say to follow your passion, and nothing can stop you.”
What is your favorite medium to work with?
“Anything. I’m the type of person who likes to learn new techniques and likes to learn new methods and new materials and apply them in different ways so I can get my message across. I’ve worked across the board from traditional painting and graphite, which is what I grew up with, to eventually chicken wire sculptures with calligraphy paper on it, so it’s all across the board.”
How would you describe your artistic style?
“I think the best way I can describe it is just really organic only because I have a split between my fine art and my street art style. Either way, they both are geared toward organic figures. The fine art side is very cultural and reflects on my background, or it’s very political. It’s just things that have a specific statement, but in a very earth-tone-y way. My street art style is the complete opposite, where it is super colorful, super warped, with all these really bright colors. My artist statement is about my experience as a first-generation Vietnamese-American, so there’s this whole internal struggle figuring out my culture while also being Americanized. That’s pretty much what my artwork emanates.”
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
“It’s mostly just stuff that I come up with on the spot. The biggest stimulus I get is from the material that I am working with. So I will look at the material, I’ll think about its characteristics and I’ll think about a message I can convey with those characteristics. Instead of having a message and choosing the materials, which is how I think most people do it, I do the opposite.”
Which artist has influenced you the most?
“It goes two ways because there’s the whole entire fine art side with the street art side. On the street art side, I think my favorite would have to be Christina Angelina. She’s also known as @starfightera on Instagram. Her style is just so beautiful. It’s very feminine, but it’s at the same time very strong. On the fine art side, there are a lot of different people I like to refer to because I like a lot of different styles. I like Jeff Coons because he has a very industrial concept. He’s probably one of the most famous artists out there, and he’s a genius. I also like really cultural people like Ai Weiwei. He’s a Chinese artist, and his work reminds me of my fish sculpture with the paper, and his style represents more so his culture and his political statements. His art resonates with me in how I convey my messages.”
What are your post-grad plans?
“I was really nervous about it at first, but now I’m just so much more confident about telling people only because the way I started out being in art is probably the same way I’m going to end up approaching my post-grad plans. It’s literally just going for it. I don’t have a plan A and a plan B; I just have a whole bunch of plan B’s. There’s my job at the museum right now, there’s an art residency path, but it’s all geared toward an overall vision that I am aiming for, which is to open up my own studio school in the future.
What made you interested in studying art?
“It’s very creative and out of the ordinary. You get to explore things that people haven’t done before. Art can be anything. That’s what’s amazing about it. I love visual communication because I think it rules the world. You turn left because there’s a stoplight that tells you to wait and go left. You’re controlled by visuals, and I just think it’s pretty cool.”
What’s your favorite medium to work with?
“I love my computer and Photoshop. I always tell people that when I use Photoshop, I feel like a god or a magician. I can do anything, pretty much. There’s nothing I can’t do with Photoshop.”
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
“Artists who are better than me. I think we learn from each other, and it’s OK to learn from others and to make your stuff yours and put your originality in it.”
Which artist has influenced you the most?
“There’s this guy called Artgerm. He has a YouTube channel, and I watch his videos a lot. I actually learn more from him than from my class because he uses Photoshop, and I learn tricks from him way more than I learn in class, and it always puts me ahead. And there’s a very old one — he’s dead — Saul Bass. He’s a minimalistic artist. He makes posters. I love his work so much.”
How would you describe your artistic style?
“For me, if you can use Photoshop, why would you make something normal if you have the possibility to make something out of the ordinary? I like surreal stuff, like fantasy. I would describe my work as out of the ordinary.”
What are your post-grad plans?
“I’m going to go into graphic designing because a couple friends who graduated last year are working in Miami. Miami is a very good place for graphic designers, so I’m planning to work for any company for now. Ultimately, hopefully, I’m going to own my own business, which will be great.”
What made you interested in studying art?
“I started all the way in elementary school, and I started because of a teacher there. She inspired me. I had this class where it was just me and her, and she just made me feel like I belong in art. I understand it more than just reading and writing. I’m more of a visual learner.”
What’s your favorite medium to work with?
“It used to be just Illustrator, but then I started using Photoshop. Photoshop is not my favorite. But now because of my job, I like InDesign. So now I like both of them, and I bounce back and forth between Illustrator and InDesign.”
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
“I start off usually with sketches. A lot of people don’t like doing that. I used to hate doing sketches, as well, but I usually try to do sketches, and, from there, my thing with how I do it is by layout. If, for example, we’re doing this magazine ad, it has to either go together by colors or the type of fonts or images, so, for me, it’s mostly by layout. It depends on the type of theme that is needed and layout.”
Which artist has influenced you the most?
“There are so many of them, but the obvious graphic designer is [Stefan] Sagmeister. He’s a crazy dude. He does crazy stuff. All of his stuff is outside the little bubble that everyone expects. He just thinks outside the box. Honestly, all of his stuff is just different.”
How would you describe your artistic style?
“It’s very organized and very clean. When I think of Sagmeister, all his stuff is chaotic and spread out. That’s kind of what I like about him, but my type of art is mainly clean and organized. It’s very simple. It’s not too crazy, but that’s how I usually go. That’s why whenever I have a project, like there was one project that I did and my professor tried to make me go grungy, but still, it was an organized grungy feel. I have a professor who is always trying to make me go messy, but I just can’t. Even when I try to play with images and stuff, they’re all either organized by color or shapes.”
What are your post-grad plans?
“I really want to move to the West Coast. I really want to move to L.A. I feel like that’s where graphic design is major and popular.”
Juan Salazar
What made you interested in studying art?
“I’ve always been very ‘artsy-fartsy’ as a little kid. I started college as a biology major, but I saw that I wasn’t too passionate about it. I ended up just taking a second semester to figure out what it was that I wanted to do. I found out that there’s a lot of careers in art. It’s like what I was pretty much born to do, I would say.”
What is your favorite medium to work with?
“I am very versatile when it comes to mediums. Anything when it comes to paints — acrylics, spray paints, watercolor or even oil — I’m very comfortable with, but I would say my favorite would be charcoal.”
How would you describe your artistic style?
“The style would be geometric and very colorful. I used to use very dark tones in my palette, but then, once I started painting here in college, I went into a whole full-color road.”
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
“My inspiration comes from my feelings, whatever I’m feeling at the moment. Sometimes, it can be very personal or just my own world type of thing. But then, of course, the outer world does have a huge impact — what’s trending, what’s going on, whether it’s politics, financial stuff, school. It really just depends on my mood.”
Which artist has influenced you the most?
“Definitely Vincent Van Gogh, along with Salvador Dali, Picasso, and even contemporary artists like Alexander Mijares, who is from Miami, and even Brito.”
What are your post grad plans?
“I’m taking some time off to just work and get my studio set up. Hopefully, within two or three years, whether I decide to stay here in Florida or move out, but I do want to go on to be an industrial designer, more so for the automotive branch, designing cars, mainly exterior, but I know the interior is super important too.”
