In her new exhibition at Fresno State’s Phebe Conley Art Gallery, Laura Meyer bares her soul to the public with paintings, sculptures, and even a giant mobile. All are centered around her painful childhood and the feelings she underwent during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The exhibition, titled “Small Explosions,” runs through Friday, Sept. 29, and a talk by fellow feminist artist Nancy Youdelman will be 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, in the Leon and Pete Peters Education Building.

The majority of the exhibition consists of a series of flower paintings grouped by collections that are hung in order on the walls. The interesting part of this arrangement is that as Meyer described it, the early paintings were her “searching for a spark of life in the gloomy grayness,” and thus have dark and muddy backgrounds.

As you find yourself continuing through the exhibit, though, one may notice that the backgrounds of the paintings become increasingly colorful, until the end of the exhibit, which features two flower paintings with sky blue backgrounds. Seeing this progression really takes guests on Meyer’s journey through the darkness, and creates a story throughout the gallery.

There is one outlier in the paintings’ order, however. The exhibit is kicked off with “Altogether Now,” a portrait of Meyer and her now deceased stepmother on her sickbed. Though it may initially seem out of place amongst the rest of the nature-themed exhibit, according to Meyer, the piece represents a more literal self-portrait.

“I’m the one looking straight out at the viewer,” Meyers said when asked about the significance
of “Altogether Now.”

Before delving into the abstract, viewers are grounded in the literal with this self portrait. With this introduction Meyers makes herself known, and ensures that viewers are reminded of the
actual person and mind behind this powerful exhibit.

The impressive conclusion to the exhibit is the gallery room-sized mobile composed of smashed doll parts hanging from a metal frame. Placed in the same room as the sky-blue background paintings, the mobile gives an almost haunting presence to the room, as if reminding the viewer that although things have gotten a lot more hopeful for Meyers than during the pandemic, there are still those hints of underlying pain from her troubled childhood that continue to hang over her.

Consuming and trying to interpret such deeply personal art can seem daunting to most, but visitors don’t have to go about it alone. The exhibition is tended to by passionate professionals like gallery technician Michelle Goans, who is very knowledgeable on feminist art and Meyer herself. She pointed to the connections between this exhibit and renowned professor and artist Judy Chicago, as well as Fresno State’s history with feminist art.

“Knowing that where I’m working has a connection to the feminist art movement has been a great thing to learn about,” she said.

Anyone who has a few minutes should absolutely make their way to the exhibit while it’s up, and
see what takeaways Laura Meyers and these impressive displays of art can invoke.