“Bugging Out,” which is currently on display in the USI Virginia Thomas Memorial Gallery until March 28, is a joint exhibition between senior studio art majors Madison Jung and Iain Girten*.
According to Jung, the idea for the exhibition originally came from one of her artworks, which she had created sometime around October of last year.
“I had created a large-scale bug piece and my partner came up to me and was like, ‘Hey, you know, it’d be cool if we could do a show called “Bugging Out” and explore this idea of bugs a little further.’ So we started jotting down ideas,” Jung said.
What came after that was much more difficult. “At first we were a little under prepared for the sheer amount of work and time and effort that goes into it,” she said. “But in the end, I think our efforts show and really explain how much we love this.”
“I consider bugs a good symbol for anxiety and bad thought processes,” she said. “They kind of just pile up on each other, and they can swarm like an infestation of bugs.”
Jung points out that some bugs are good for the environment, just like how some forms of anxiety are there to keep us safe.
“It’s this fun contradiction of good bugs, bad bugs and how they can relate to your own emotions in the real world,” she said.
“With Iain’s, it’s more fun and whimsical, where you kind of become the bug, or you surround yourself as though you are the size of a bug,” she said. “You get this feeling of what a bug’s life is and how it can relate to the scariness of the real world.”
“I love that over time we started challenging ourselves more and thinking less about the real world and what surrealism could be in the show,” she said.
Jung enjoyed being able to work together with her best friend to create this show. “Seeing our different art styles and how they have similarities and yet some contradictions, and just being able to work with a different person in the same art field is a blessing,” she said.
In the future, Jung plans to create more bug-themed works. “I feel like we’ve only scratched the surface, and that as we keep going, our ideas will become broader and more fun and better for all audiences,” said Jung.
The reception for this exhibition will be today from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
For more of Jung’s work, go to @mousey_ bouncey or contact them at madison.jung31@gmail.com.
*Girten declined to be interviewed.
