Their homework is hell

July 10, 2004

For the past two years, 11th-grade visual arts students at the Boston Arts Academy have plunged into Dante's nine circles of hell, reading excerpts from the "Inferno" and translating it into art. Along with the poem, this year's students watched "Grave of the Fireflies," the animated 1988 movie about the World War II Tokyo firebombing and drew connections to the modern world. Their paintings and drawings are on display at the Bromfield Art Gallery, 450 Harrison Ave., until July 17. Below, three students whose work has joined the centuries-old canon of "Inferno"-inspired art reflect on their pictorial contemplation of a living hell:

[Note from CCE: the printed original of this article appears on the front page of the Globe’s Living|Arts section and includes color photos of the three interviewed students with their artwork. A copy is available in the Print Media 2004 scrapbook at CCE.]

Lee Beard, 17, of Boston
Artwork: "Da Drop," watercolor and ink
Favorite artist: Paul Goodnight, a Boston-based painter of African-American subjects
Usual style: "When I have free time in my black book, I mostly do graffiti letters. I do people, too. Mostly I do it on canvases, because the whole getting arrested part, I'm not really for it."
Relating to the "Inferno": "When the teacher said, `We're going to be reading this,' I'm like, `What's that?' My friends were like, `It's about hell, yo.' I thought this was great because I got to draw all this weird stuff."
His work: In a scene inspired by the movie, a boy Beard describes as a self-portrait is taking a picture as US-marked firebombs rain down on Tokyo. Stylized urban figures fill the historical setting. "I just tried to show a whole bunch of chaos," he says.
Idea of hell on earth: "War for one, and abuse of power."

Massiel Grullon, 17, of Boston
Artwork: "Me," pencil, ink, and watercolor
Favorite artist: Frida Kahlo
Usual style: Grullon has illustrated herself as comic-book character "Little Massy" since middle school. "People always are asking me, `Why do you always draw yourself?' I guess it's 'cause I know myself better."
Relating to the "Inferno": "I'm a very colorful and bright person. This was kind of different for me. I'm very much into fashion, so I do a lot of bright fluorescent colors."
Her work: "This portrait resembles the book. We were supposed to write a really sad poem, and it had to reflect in our facial expresion. I was upset; I was biting my lip, like very angry, like I want to get out of a bad situation."
Idea of hell on earth: "The war, definitely. It also reminds me of the government -- how corrupt the government is."

Kevin Schneider, 18, of Brighton
Artwork: "7th Circle Republican," mixed media
Favorite artist: Rembrandt
Usual style: Ink pen drawing
Relating to the "Inferno": "[Dante] was groping [at] the levels of hell, how murderers were looked at better than traitors. It was a different way of looking at sins, and also the fact that [in real life] he's banned from his hometown for calling out politicians and church leaders. I thought it showed a lot of bravery."
His work: Schneider depicts President Bush with devil horns. "With the war in Iraq, details were coming out about how there were so many holes in [Bush's] reasoning, it seemed like he was a traitor to his people. . . . That would make him the worst offender in the seventh circle."
Idea of hell on earth: "War I guess."
LAUREN SMILEY