Looking for love

   Love is a battlefield. At least, that's what Pat Benatar says. It spawns a multitude of emotions — hope, fear, frustration, euphoria and, my personal favorite, rage. Through acts and the process of love, we push ourselves to the very limits of the emotional spectrum.

   To Love, the new art exhibit in the SAC Main Gallery, features works from six artists, each one sending a personal message about the way love impacts either them or society. Some works convey the simple message of love — conventional to full-on passion, it makes us feel good. Others touch on hot-button social issues and emotional injustice, often perpetrated by a cruel, callous lover.

   Daniel du Plessis leads the pack with six works, each one combining the delicate with the volatile to present a union that can only be tied to a man scorned.

   From this darkness on is a portrait of roses that have had the life choked out of them by vines of the strangling morning glory. Tangled among the predatory flowers are gnarled, thorny branches, diamonds, pearls and wedding rings.

    Du Plessis combines acrylic, found objects, glitter and stickers on canvas to draw the viewer into the world of anguish and confusion. Here in the dark and Something it won't present vivid jewel tones and thick coats of shimmering lacquer in custom frames also made by du Plessis. The frames are works of art in themselves. Covered in plastic bugs and rodents and then painted black, they add texture to the paintings they surround.

   Just when the works of du Plessis have almost convinced you to swear off commitment entirely, in swoops renowned French photographer Willy Ronis with his black and white photographs of lovers in postwar France. Like a still from one of Jean Luc Godard's films, Ronis' prints capture the joyful naiveté of young lovers.

   His dreamy, romantic photos show flickers of love from a time when morale was low. A gentleman lights a cigarette for a young woman in a dim café, a wife bids her sailor husband farewell at the dock and young lovers take in a view with the Eiffel Tower in the far distance. Ronis takes advantage of low lighting and awkward angles to give his photos an organic feeling often lacking in modern photographs.

    Quyen Dinh's sexually ambiguous painting Untitled leaves many questions unanswered. It depicts two young boys, one Caucasian, one Asian, one tattooed and one sharply dressed, standing hand in hand in front of a trailer looking forlorn and tormented. Is their love forbidden or is it just childlike affection? Dinh's other three paintings depict a Sapphic cabaret, challenging gender roles with sultry, provocative women in risqué situations.

   Other works include depictions of suburban bondage by D. Christ, graffiti art meets collage by Joshua Lawyer, Victorian Warhol-esque portraits of Marie Antoinette by Kelly Castillo .

   To Love  runs through March 24 in the Main Gallery located in the Fine Arts building.