By Lauren Pinkston

January 30, 2013

On Wednesday, Jan. 23, the O’Connor Art Gallery opened a new exhibit: “Urban Insights.” The display is free and is open to all until Feb. 27.

The curator of O’Connor Art Gallery, Angela Bryant, named the exhibit “Urban Insights” because of the unique relationship between the works of the two featured artists, Jesse Howard and Jason Reblando.

Bryant shares, “Both artists offer two different perspectives of the urban environment, and that’s why I chose the title ‘Urban Insights’.”

According to Bryant, Jesse Howard strove to “capture the experience of people within an urban environment and the effect they have on one another,” while Jason Reblando worked to examine “race, space and nature amidst the unending and uneven development of the urban environment.”

Howard’s artwork is primarily drawings, but he also incorporates other media. He features urban figures in modern America, including fatal shooting victims like Trayvon Martin. Reblando uses photographs to capture the experiences of his urban subjects along with his photographs of the beauty of everyday life in the city.

Junior Kate Mann agrees that the differing aesthetic perspectives of city life worked well for this showing.

Mann said, “Both [artists] were kind of cohesive in their themes.”

This is the second gallery opening that Mann has attended and she encourages other students to attend others in the future as well.

Mann especially enjoyed Howard’s piece titled “Trayvon Aftermath.”

This is the third exhibit that the O’Connor Art Gallery has displayed so far this school year with the next exhibit opening in March featuring the work of current Dominican art students.

Bryant hopes to see the Dominican Community take advantage of the opportunity to view this artwork.

Bryant believes that, “Art is relevant to life in general. It has the power to enrich our lives and gives us different ways of viewing the world.”