As the semester comes to an end and this year's senior class begins to move into their last semester at Brandeis, students in the Fine Arts program are looking at some of their final chances to display their work on campus. To celebrate the work of seniors finishing up their Fine Arts degrees, the department has put together the exhibition Fired Up. After its opening reception on Wednesday evening, the exhibition is currently on view in Spingold Theater Center's Dreitzer Gallery and features student works of painting, sculpture and printmaking.

Having seen many exhibitions staged in Dreitzer, Fired Up without a doubt houses the greatest volume of works of any previous exhibition-and as the usage of vibrant, arresting colors seems to be a theme connecting the selection of works, this space has taken on a new mood. The slew of paintings on display are hung on the curving inner wall of the white-walled, airy gallery, grouped by artist. Along the greater curve of the outer wall hang more three-dimensional pieces-paintings that incorporate textured or sculptural elements, as well as some prints, that are interspersed within the space. Breaking up the middle aisle space of the gallery are several sculptures.

Some of the first works that caught my eye was a collection of paintings staged at the far corner of the exhibition, near one of the entrances. The three paintings, by Natasha Frye '14, are works on canvas that have a distinctively smooth finish, both in dimension and in the blending of colors used. In "No Evil," "Tribal Patterns" and an untitled third painting, Frye creates three individualized images that connect into a stylized original portrayal of one popular representation of "tribal" life. Frye uses bold, largely primary colors and colorblocking elements to add depth and shade to the human figures in the paintings, including tribe members in beautiful ceremonial clothing in the untitled painting. This punch of bold colors to communicate an analogously bold cultural narrative provided a dazzling first glimpse within the gallery.

Moving on past the first alcove in the gallery, I came across a sculpture that was relatively stark in comparison to the rest of the sculpted works in the exhibition. Mark Borreliz's '14 work of foam and plaster, titled "Growth," appropriates a modernized narrative onto an ancient sculpture form, the portrait bust. The sculpture is a slightly larger-than-life bust-but Borreliz's work is quite unlike ancient bust forms that served to commemorate individuals. The bright white work doesn't exhibit individualized facial features, but rather presents a generalized form, and the viewer's eye is drawn to a carefully constructed cityscape that is literally coming out of the top of the figure's head, miniature skyscrapers and all.

As I walked past several more fantastic paintings, prints and sculptures, and toward the opposite end of the exhibition, my eye settled on a grouping of four beautiful works by Alexa Katz '14. Her paintings, "Lucia," "Becky," "City of Brotherly Love" and "Zoology" take a look at subjects that aren't as niche as Borreliz's philosophical sculpture. The gaze within Katz's paintings focuses more on everyday elements- her pieces focus on people and their faces, a two-dimensional cityscape and even several animals. But the smooth, fluid brushstrokes with which her subjects are portrayed and the impressive range of her color palette give life to the faces and scenes in her work.

Fired Up provides a stimulating look into the artistic minds of some of this year's senior class. Their works explored themes of culture, differing gazes and bodies, personhood, home and emotions, and did so with a great understanding of their own artistic styles and varied usage of techniques.
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