Colleen Topping – Sublime Vessel
February 22 – March 4, 2022
Closing Reception: March 4, 6-9pm
SUBLIME VESSEL, on view at The Anderson February 22 – March 4, features a body of work created by VCUarts Undergraduate Colleen Topping. As a junior in the Painting and Printmaking program, she seeks to explore expanded concepts of 2D materiality beyond the traditional stretched canvas in her academic and personal practices. This collection offers the space to reflect on identity and attitude in respect to one’s physical existence, in an attempt to honor the human form as a subject of diverse beauty.
Constructed through a painterly lens, “Sublime Vessel” calls upon elements of abstract expressionism and contemporary figure studies. Its inclusion of various sculptural objects offers imagery of the body as both an artistic object and a conscious vehicle. The rhythmic sounds of fellow VCU students Jack Sample and Amanda McVey are responsive works to the vibrant displays of color, texture, and emotion throughout the exhibition. Viewers are encouraged to move playfully through the space, however their senses may guide them within it, as we experience our most visceral emotional responses in the vessel of our flesh.