Wednesday, Jan. 30, marked the opening night of the Dimensions 2 art exhibit featured in the Dreitzer Gallery of the Spingold Theater Center where it will be shown until Feb. 27. This exhibit displays the varied spectrum of Brandeis students' talents. The pieces range from the work of younger students who are taking beginning-level art classes to older undergraduates with a Studio Art major. The pieces were grouped together by class, each section exhibiting assignments from different classes last semester.

As one walks through the exhibit, specific pieces stand out. There is a painting of what seems to be three naked wild men. It appears as if they have found something and have stopped to look at it, resting their tired and wrinkled bodies. If one keeps walking, one's attention is drawn to the vibrant colors that stand out in display of a night out on the town. The reds and yellows bring to life the dancers on the floor while the contrasting dark blues and white draw one's eyes to the troubled girl sitting aside from the crowd at a table. A man stands behind her, possibly the cause of the troublesome look the girl is wearing, inspiring a mixture of colors between the blues of the girl and the bright vibrancy of the dancers.

Teaching assistant Danielle Friedman, a post-baccalaureate student in Studio Art, provided insight on the benefits of taking an art class during one's time at Brandeis. She also emphasized the effects a student's daily life can have on his or her work. This was particularly palpable in a set of drawings that seemed to reflect a student's day-to-day life at Brandeis. The pieces show the student drawing in class, looking at the campus, getting coffee at Einstein's Bros. Bagels, and then a picture that stands out within the set-the student using the rest room. These drawings were put out along one wall, almost resembling a comic book strip.

The self-portrait section of the exhibit is another clear representation of a students' life affecting his or her work. Self-reflection is often done inwardly, but through these dynamic self-portraits, a student's reflections on his or her self-image were put forward for all to see. Sophomores completed these portraits last semester in a beginning painting class, intended for Studio Art majors. Not all students chose to even portray their faces in these portraits. However, amongst those students, most showed themselves in the reflections of the items within their paintings. Their reflections were shown in objects such as: computer screens, camera lenses, a ski mask, cell phones and even through the reflection of a mirror. The other sections that were emphasized created the whole of the person beyond their physical self-image.

A picture of a broken man is displayed prominently in the center of the exhibit. This piece was created by students who took the course FA 3a: Introduction to Drawing class last semester. Each student created three or four pieces, displaying random squares of the image with the intent to bring forth the dialogue between representation and abstraction, as well as the difference between realism and photo-realism. From a distance, the face in the picture looks whole, yet while walking towards it the pieces start to come apart and the details of this man begin to feel wrong. Yet, the toll time has taken on this man's face are immediately evident in every piece of the picture. After one spends time looking at the picture of the broken man, the pieces begin to come together, and when stepping back away from it, the broken man becomes whole once again.

It is a shame that, due to the fact that this was not a senior art show or exhibit of a well-known artist, attendance at the opening was low. Nonetheless, this exhibit was an impressive collection of first-years, sophomores or juniors' ability to excel. These students were able to portray an array of emotions through their art using different mediums.