INDUSTRY, INVENTION & PROGRESS: FEBRUARY 5-26, 2025 RECEPTION: FRIDAY, FEB. 7, 2025: 5-9 PM AWARDS PRESENTED AT 7 PM

2025

Mar 31

Judge’s Statement

It has been my pleasure to be the juror for the Findlay Art League’s “Industry, Invention and Progress” exhibition. I am very fortunate to have juried several exhibitions at the Findlay Art League in recent years. Each time, like this time, I am reinvigorated by the impact that contemporary art created in our region has on viewers like me. For example, the piece that I selected as the Best of Show intrigues me completely. This sculpture, entitled Flower by Yamin Xu, literally looks directly at me, and it responds and moves in relation to the movements of my own face and head as I look at it and ponder it in return. Perhaps this piece best illustrates the tensions that many if not all of us feel when we encounter new technologies such as artificial intelligence. AI is most definitely an invention and a technology that has sweeping implications, both positive and negative (depending on one’s perspective), for our region, state, nation, and for the entire world. In addition to many other uses, AI has numerous industrial applications only recently being put to the test, and that testing and implementation will no doubt increase and “flower” over time. While Xu’s sculpture is only about the size of a potted plant, Flower without doubt asks the viewer immensely large and important questions that all of us need to be aware of, and engage with, as we all emerge into yet another moment of amazing technological innovations. What should you and I do with AI, in art, in education, and in industry (just to name a few fields)? What do you think of this new and growing machine? What will be the fruits of this amazing new Flower?

Each one of the works honored with prizes are, in my opinion, all of a very high quality: technically, aesthetically, and conceptually. Therefore, I’d like to send my congratulations to all of the artists who got into the show, and especially to those artists who have won awards. In addition, I would like to thank and commend all of the artists who submitted their works for consideration. Finally, as a longstanding resident of NW Ohio, I would like to thank the Findlay Art League's forward-thinking founders, its current superb staff, and its numerous community supporters for creating, running, and maintaining such an outstanding organization. Congratulations and thanks again to all involved with the Findlay Art League! Dr Andrew Hershberger. BGSU