Undergraduate creates pieces from the ground-up

“Paint is so much more than just color,” said Ben Liebl, featured artist of the 2021 Summer Undergraduate Research grant Showcase. 

Liebl’s artwork is being featured in Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Hearth Lounge exhibition inside of the Centennial Student Union.

“I wanted to push my work toward being on a larger scale, as well as shifting to making my own materials, specifically oil paint,” said Liebl on his initial ideas when he received the grant. “A lot of my work deals with criticizing the post industrial age that we live in, so it felt fitting that I needed to not be a part of that industrialism and instead make my own materials.”

Liebl is a drawing major, but said the exhibition is so heavily painting-based because of his research. 

“I like using oil paint specifically, compared to using acrylic because acrylic paint is essentially just liquid plastic,” he explained. “I felt as a painter making work about the landscape and the bad relationship we have towards it that using plastic to spread that message would feel really weird.”

The piece that Leibl has the most connection to within his exhibit is titled “In American Medusa is a Soccer Mom.” The piece, which holds the unique effect of being multi-media even though it remains exclusively oil paint, holds a special place for the artist.

“I think the piece has the strongest feelings tied to it, just not necessarily good feelings,” said Liebl. “It has a lot of passion and concept behind it.” 

The piece is a dedication to an experience that Liebl had walking through a park in North Mankato. 

“I was walking through a park one day and noticed there was a statue tucked away off the path. I walked up to it, and saw that it was dedicated to an indigenous leader and the indigenous people of this area. Yet around this space there were these buildings being put up, like your cheap cookie cutter sort of housing developments of these middle class, predominantly white neighborhoods,” Liebl described. 

“So I thought there was this huge juxtaposition between this statue designed to honor or remember what was literally genocide, and yet everyone is back to business as usual building these cheap houses and destroying the land. It felt like a very conflicting space to me.”

He then went on to speak about his history with art.

“I started getting into art at the end of high school. I was not at all interested in the beginning,” Liebl said. “I had been more interested in science and philosophy, but what I like about art is that it’s a place for all of those interests to come together. I got really interested in art as a social tool, or a tool to start a conversation.”

Additionally, Liebl had a mentor who helped him in realizing his potential. 

“I had a teacher who is a professional artist, and his work deals with similar ideas to mine,” he said. “He basically showed me the potential that you can have a career as an artist and that you can express your ideas through art.”

Leibl’s exhibit will remain in the Hearth Lounge until Wednesday.

Header photo: Conkling Art Gallery showcases artwork created by student Ben Liebl (Hanna Mun/The Reporter)