The Department of Art is hosting "Portraits and Bobbleheads" in the Biggin Gallery through Feb. 8. The exhibition is the work of David Tallitsch, graduate of the University of Iowa and the San Francisco Art Institute.
Andrew Kozlowski, professor of art, said this exhibit is a colorful and whimsical display for students.
"It's like this brilliant, funny, amazing, like, crazy artwork to go and just take a look at and see it in person," Kozlowski said. "I think David's use of color is really amazing ... He's doing this great mash up between what you think of as standard portraiture and also a beautiful sense of abstraction."
Tillitsch was on campus Thursday for the presentation and reception of his exhibit, and he was able to work alongside art students in class before the reception.
"It's great to have David here even for the day," Kozlowski said.
"He's working while they are working and hopefully we make some good art."
Tallitsch said he was excited to have his work featured in Biggin Gallery when he was invited by gallery coordinator Barb Bondy.
"It's really interesting to see how your work looks when it's all presented in a gallery space as opposed to just stuffed in the corner in your studio," Tallitsch said. "I think it's unique because it's my exhibit and that's pretty special to me. Most of the exhibits I go to are somebody else's, and I was pretty thrilled that this is my show with my work."
Tallitsch said his background is mostly in painting, and most of his work depicts figures.
"Bobbleheads are fun, I guess that's it you know," Tallitsch said. "I looked through everything I did and tried to figure out what was the good stuff and what was the bad stuff. And then I boxed up all of the stuff that looked like it was good. You try not to let anyone see the bad stuff."
Cameron Gray, junior in fine art, and Kara Ffield, senior in fine art, said they were very interested in Tallitsch's work and happy to see something so different in the gallery.
"I'm really intrigued by it," Gray said. "He combined anatomy with the rigidness of architecture. It was interesting to see the two meld together smoothly. It was just a cool way of seeing things, like a whimsical type piece in the gallery."
Ffield, who introduced Tallitsch's exhibition last week, said she enjoys the use of color and the atmosphere Tallitsch is able to convey in his paintings and drawings.
"The first thing I noticed was the color," Ffield said. "There is just a real, almost watery quality, and it gives kind of a dream atmosphere to his paintings. I think some of the exhibitions we've seen have been kind of vanilla. They're not as vivid color-wise. As an actual visual piece, I think his stuff is more intriguing."
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