A painting of a jar containing a set of conjoined twins afflicted by the chemical Agent Orange with Da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” upside down and bleeding in the background was just one of the many pieces displayed at the Cerritos College Student Art Exhibit 2011.

Gabriel Segura, president of the Artists Society, won a third place prize for this painting, titled, “The Orange Truth.”

He said that originally he started with cars, until people told him that, although they thought his skills were good, he needed to put feeling into his paintings.

“So I said, ‘Well I get feeling from the cars,'” Segura said. “But they said, ‘No, you need to make people think.'”

The Cerritos College Art Gallery opened its doors for the exhibit, which featured paintings, ceramics, photography, graphic design and other media on April 26 with a reception and award ceremony.

Each award came with an unspecified cash prize that fell into one of five categories. Each category offered two honorable mentions, two third and second place prizes, and only one first place.

After brainstorming, Segura based his work on seeing the adverse effects of Agent Orange, which was used for herbicidal warfare in the Vietnam War, on Vietnamese people.

“As you can see, it’s horrible,” he said.

He described the experience as eye-opening.

“Nowadays, you look around, even in the newspapers from politics to war to anything that’s going on, you can look around and it’s not the truth.

“So I said, ‘Let’s give them the truth.’ I’m all about the truth,” Segura said.

Photography major Aydi Ortiz said she thought Segura’s idea was very well-executed.

“I admire his work, his braveness for doing something like this, especially since I know he may have referenced some things,” she said. “But to create something out of nothing, out of just thoughts in his head … he has lots of skills in painting and I can appreciate his work.”

Ortiz, who was recently accepted into UCLA, won a second place award in category three for a printmaking piece, and she was recognized for her work in photography with a scholarship.

One photography major, Ashaka Mathews had his work exhibited, not in frames, but through a projector, telling the story of a girl becoming a vampire through a series of images.

He said he put the piece, titled, “The Birth of Evil,” together for Christina Fernandez’ directed studies class last semester to tell a story, citing Dracula as his inspiration and deciding to add a twist by making the character female.

 “For me, making it with the projector,” Mathews said, “it adds to the mood to this kind of [horror] movie series.

“Seeing it with just maybe one or two of the best photographs of the series wouldn’t actually do it justice. I think it’s probably better to actually have them all together as one, because they’re stronger as one piece.”

Lee Davenport, art major, also had his work, “Power to the People,” featured, and said everyone in his family has attended Cerritos College at one time, including his 23-year-old and 27-year-old sons and his wife.

Davenport studied in business and mechanics at Cerritos College in the 1970s and 80s.

After retiring at 55, he decided to return to school and renewed his interest in art.

“I always liked art,” he said, “and now I have the time to pursue it.”

Davenport said this was his third time featured in the Student Art Exhibit, and that in the past, he placed third with assemblage entries.

When he accepted one of the John Demott scholarships, Davenport joked that he was going to use the money to help with the financial burden he puts on his parents.

Judging the exhibit was Joe Biel, an assistant professor of foundations and studio art at Cal State Fullerton, who explained shortly before the awards were handed out that whether a student won or not didn’t matter because it was a great show.

Biel has been critically reviewed by publications such as the Los Angeles Times and Art in America, and received the Pollock-Krasner award in 2003 and 2008.

The award is a grant rewarding artists around the world who have worked professionally over a significant period of time and is based on financial need and artistic merit, according to the Pollock-Krasner Foundation’s website.

He told students at the ceremony he looked for a point of view when judging, saying, “As an artist, your real job is to find a voice.”

Art instructor Kirk Miller said, “James [MacDevitt] has done a great job with the gallery.

“No matter what exhibit he does, they’re all really super and professionally done.”

Miller said he liked seeing students with their families.

 “It’s an opportunity for students … to be proud and show what they’ve done this past semester,” he said. “It’s nice because I have the feeling that most people don’t quite understand, especially in computer graphics, what can be done, what’s possible.”

Danny Gaviria, graphic design major, had two graphic design entries, including one, titled, “Drunk Don’t Drive,” that was treated as if it was an advertisement by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which depicted an electrocardiograph spiking shapes of alcoholic beverages before flat lining. 

“It was an assignment for our graphic design class,” Gaviria said.

“That one was my final piece, and I really liked the way it came out,” he said.

Gaviria, who also graphically designed the cover of the gallery’s catalogue for the exhibit, won second place in category four.

The catalogue is being sold by the gallery for $15.

One student said he took inspiration from his frustration with working at a supermarket, literally making it the foundation of his piece, titled, “Everything Falls Apart.”

“I took one of the pallets from Ralphs,” Galileo Gonzalez, computer animation major, said, “and just broke it apart into pieces.”

However, Gonzalez said it wasn’t frustration with the job itself that inspired the piece, but the time change.

“At the time, I was working the graveyard shift, so I did a whole series on pretty much my frustration toward the graveyard shift,” he said, “because it was really screwing me over, sleep-wise.”

He said he primed it with some clear coat and painted it with oil, then let it dry and separated the pallet into pieces, which took him around two weeks to finish.

Gonzalez took home second place in category two for this work and also received the very first Victor Hugo Silva Memorial Scholarship.

Silva, who in 2009 earned a master’s in fine arts in painting, drawing and sculpture from the New York Academy of Figurative Art, passed away on Feb. 8 at the age of 37.

Art Department Chair Hagop Najarian described his former student as passionate, committed and tenacious.

“He just left a huge impact on me and contagious energy,” he said.

“The class would then get sucked up into that fervor, wanting to make better work.

“He’s that student you have in class that we’ve all had, even when I was a student in class; [he was] kind of always on the edge, saying something,” Najarian said.

Najarian said the Student Art Exhibit’s reception was really positive.

“The reason I teach is to kind of regenerate those positive ideas about making art, exhibiting your work and getting people to come see your work,” he said.

“Overall, I can just say it’s a huge, positive optimistic experience for the students and the parents.”

The exhibition will close on May 17.