Amid the quiet breeze of Sunday’s dim-lit evening, a collection of wonder, indulgence and mystification was setting within the white walls of the Marilyn Werby Gallery between Fine Arts buildings 1 and 2.
Peter Macaulay, a senior art student at California State University, Long Beach, included original drawings and paintings of CSULB students for this semester’s School of Art Senior Shows.
Macaulay’s works consisted of a series of emotionally driven, abstract images and a self-portrait he said that was inspired by the old-fashioned “sassy artist look,” which he titled “Abstract Queer Narratives.”
“It’s kind of like a secret,” Macaulay said calmly. “People look at it, and they don’t really know what they’re looking at.”
The paintings depict the artists’ experiences as if the viewer is peering through a fuzzy glass that has been tinted with soft rays of color. At first glance, the pieces set off a sense of confusion, but a message slowly materializes upon further inspection.
Macaulay said the paintings portrayed certain events and experiences he had – events he kept secret as a gay adolescent growing up.
Two of the pieces portrayed his first experiences with sexual experimentation as a gay man. They show disfigured, almost indistinguishable, human forms slumped over different backdrops. The background and the primary focus of the paintings remain inexplicit and open for interpretation.
“[Through art], I was able to release and express this pent up emotion,” Macaulay said.
CSULB senior art student Jarand Abad met Macaulay in a life drawing class during freshman year. He said that Macaulay’s skill combined with his unconventional ideas is what set him apart from his peers.
“If I had to say one word for it,” Abad said, “[Macaulay’s] work is a surprise.”
One of Macaulay’s major influences is Francis Bacon, who is known for his bold and emotionally raw imagery in abstract and figurative art.
“I don’t always work this way, sometimes I do abstract things, [while] other times I do more literal pieces,” Macaulay said. “I was definitely channeling Bacon.”
For as long as he can remember, Macaulay has been interested in art and drawing.
“[Art] was something I always did and at some point in my life it kind of clicked,” Macaulay said.
However, his path towards this dream was not without a bumpy start.
Macaulay grew up in Santa Ana and was a high school dropout. He went back to school to receive his diploma at age 25 before enrolling in community college.
Once he settled in at CSULB, Macaulay found himself with a group of artistic transfer students like himself with whom he formed a close bond; eventually, they formed a club called “The Shady Sketchers.” He said this week’s solo show was special for him because the works that filled these galleries were those based on his colleagues whom he met as a transfer student in 2013.
“Students get to experience the design and space of a show which allows them to examine their work in full,” second-year art grad student Kiyomi Fukuii said. “The three-day time crunch [to prepare the exhibit] is also a good challenge.”
Interpretation seemed to be one of the key elements in these works. Despite being bold and direct, there was an element of uncertainty in the paintings that left his audience to rely on their perception and imagination to decide the message themselves.
Macaulay’s show will be showcased until Thursday in the Marilyn Werby Gallery.