Anna Gefke

Studio Art major, Mathematics minor

My work:

Begins with structure

Is influenced by mathematics

Grids, concentric circles, Reimann sums

Documents time, emotion, and state of mind through a daily practice of rendering apples

Shifts back and forth between realistic representation and abstraction, photography and painting

Is didactical and experimental

Plays with collage

What...

Paintings, Drawings, Photography

Performance art (life is a performance, I delineate between one cast of characters and the rest of life's ensemble)

Why...

To explore identity and individual ways of looking. Because societies grow by bringing these topics into conversation.

How...

Creating rules of practice, then allowing each work to direct my process.

Seclusion for research, and community for discussion.

Apple

pen, charcoal, plaster, ink, sandpaper, performance

Jewett Hallway Galleries

at left, 51 small drawings of apples arranged in 8-across grid; at right, slightly irregular rectangular piece of white paper with red lines painted on it to mimic gingham; both hang on gray fabric wall

Apple is a daily practice of drawing and painting catalyzed by my amusement with apples. An accumulation of my bites of the fruit work with the internal structure of the apple to result in a uniquely-shaped apple core. After eating comes the documentation. The final portrayal is a snapshot of taste and time: how the apple tasted, how long the core oxidized for. My mind digests the information I collect on each apple and then spits it back out on paper via my hand.

close up on several rows of small drawings of apple cores, rendered with varying styles and materials

person with long dark hair, black tshirt, and jeans sitting on a red and white checked piece of paper on the floor, tossing a green apple in the air; behind them a grid of small drawings of apples in various styles hangs on a gray fabric wall

small drawings of apples in various styles installed in a grid on a gray fabric wall; at bottom right a hand holding a green apple replaces two of the drawings

installation view of a large grid of small drawings on gray fabric wall; at right on the wall is an irregular piece of paper with red/white check pattern painted on it; on the gray tile floor is a blue tape outline corresponding to the shape of the checked piece of paper

Titled, No. A1945802 #1

acrylic, ash, ink, tape on canvas

Jewett Gallery

painting on white gallery wall; mostly pale purple, green, and dark outline, depicting corner of a room and landscape elements with trompe l'oeil elements like torn paper and taped notebook page; the word 'ASIAN' is written near the bottom, along with stamp-like text 'No. A1945802'

My grandfather, Jim Pyke, and I have one thing in common: we were both born in China. However, whereas my grandfather was an American citizen by birth, I became an American citizen at 16 months old.

For tihs project I searched for a better understanding of the disparate parts of mine and my grandfather's lives. How is his experience growing up in China in a family of missionaries tied to my experience growing up in America?

On paper we could not be more different: Jim Pyke, White, Male | Anna Gefke, Asian, Female. Yet, the complexities of both our lives converge within me. How does these pieces fit together?

small painting with white background, red painted edges, piece of real blue tape with painted blue drip, painted blue trompe l'oeil tape with 3 real t-pins hammered into it

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