CEPA/Hallwalls Galleries

Last time we had class we went to both CEPA and Hallwalls which are both photography based galleries. CEPA was started by Buff. State students and Hallwalls was started by UB students and they both were opened about 40 years ago. CEPA is in a really cool building called Market Arcade off Main St. When we were there we had the chance to see what it's like for the gallery to figure out where they want to hang the art, and it was all still on the ground. They were doing an auction in a few weeks and still waiting for some more art to come in before they hung it up. There was a guy telling us all about CEPA and its history, and how a lot of artists became famous because of CEPA. This gallery has opened a lot of doors for young college aged students. And we found out that its only $35 to become a member and they have a member's show where they take a piece of art from every single member and display it, which could help your career out. I was hoping to get more of a chance to see the artwork downstairs and in the other rooms but we kind of just got the history about CEPA instead of actually seeing what was there now. The only artist we really got to look at was Milton Rogovin at 100 Photographs by Aaron Ingrao, which was like a timeline of photographs describing Milton's life, about how he was a doctor, but then he became a communist so they wouldn't let him be a doctor anymore so he became an artist.


After CEPA we went to Hallwalls which is located in a church on Delaware. We looked at a show called Our Time by Sarah Baker. She is an independant woman who knows how to get what she wants and has a weird idea of art, but it is still art. The thing I liked most was the two walls with the big blown up faces, I don't know if that was something she did but it looked really cool. She made a soap opera with Buffalo actors and actresses that was playing when we were there, I on;y saw a couple minutes of it but it looked like a real soap opera. She also had a weird fasination with Airport Plaza Jewelers. There was a room dedicated to it where there was a huge photo with her and the owner with their signatures. Also she had an old style TV in the middle of the room that had the commercial she did with them and an interview with her as the guest star on the Kiosk Presents. I just thought that whole show was weird!! It just seemed tacky..