One of several provoking new installation art pieces recently installed around campus.

A few weeks ago students from Kenyon’s Installation Art class bestowed the campus with beautiful pieces of art, each of which with its own meaning and interpretation. Although the art class’s pieces have since been taken down, recently several others have popped up – but they’re not from the Installation Art class. Is it Kenyon’s very own Banksy? Or perhaps another very legitimate artist has made their way around campus? Here are some of the pieces I’ve been able to find so far.

Hashbrown, hashbrown and ketchup on probably concrete, 2015

I found this piece on my way to Peirce the other morning and was immediately struck by its profundity. There was so much to consider – why might the artist choose to leave the hashbrown triangle whole, as opposed to half eaten? How in the world were they able to get the ketchup to stain an otherwise pristine sidewalk? And perhaps most importantly – how long as the hashbrown triangle been there? I think the artist is attempting to get us to consider desolation as it relates to a supposed “coveted” food item.

Blood Splattered Red Wine, “Chilled Red” Franzia on linoleum, 2015

What’s most interesting about this piece is that whoever created it chose to do so in my suite – and I can’t help but consider that to be an invitation for very personal reflection. I have no idea whether the splatters came as a result of a single spill or a continuous drop, and I think maybe that’s the point. Would it even matter either way? In addition, the uncanny resemblance to a blood splatter is obviously meant to get the viewer to think about their relationship with their family and how that might be muddled when alcohol comes in the mix.

Pieces of Me, pumpkin chunk and leaves, 2015

I found this piece outside of Caples residence hall a few days ago and it really got me thinking about community here at Kenyon. I think that the artist intentionally removed the rest of the pumpkin to show us that without each other, we’re nothing but chunks. We are Community and Isolation, nowhere near whole or complete.

Beer Can’t, Busch Lite beer can and also other beer cans, 2015

Earlier this morning I couldn’t help but notice the amount of beer cans around. The picture above only shows one of them, but in reality the artist actually distributed many, many more around campus overnight. The critique here is that while beer can sometimes act as an adhesive in our community, it ultimately isolates us from one another – notice that there’s only one can in the picture even though the drinking is a communal activity.