“What Possessed You” Exhibition
Fowler Project Space
This event has ended.
Perhaps the most distinguishing trait that separates human from animal is the compulsion to express the soul within, and to give it form. Could this be the reason art exists? The six artists included in What Possessed You deal with the mysterious, amorphous, and untouchable powers felt within us. Each are offering a contemporary response to ritualistic traditions from places and subject matter as far afield as Trinidad and Tobago, the Appalachian Mountains, Middle America, the Southern Bible Belt, and mythology.
Jonathan Durham uses his work to explore subjects of faith, violence, doubt, humor and the body as a sculptural application. For What Possessed You, Durham presents Pentecostal church footage of various incredible feats of faith, all of which he has edited into a trance-like loop.
With a simultaneously pointed and absurdist tone, Ben Fain’s work confronts culture head on. Using parade floats, film, and sculpture he examines the complications, prohibitions, and institutional contradictions operating within social spaces and contexts. His new work using logos from huge corporations like Starbucks and Whole Foods keenly bridges resistance and submission to the brand. He re-imagines the polished multi-national logos as home-made, even primitive symbols. In doing so, Fain is investigating the modern act of high-end consumption as a way to fulfill social, political and philanthropic desires.
Gigi Gatewood is a searcher, an open eye. Her interest in religion, science and magic leads her to explore the “space that exists somewhere between reality and the imaginary.” This pursuit most recently brought her on a Fulbright Grant to explore the multiple religions and uniquely mixed culture found on the Islands of Trinidad and Tobago. What Possessed You marks the first presentation of her work from that trip.
Using a natural palette, raw materials and intuitive formalism, JR Larson’s work has an intense energy and presence. Larson uses many materials that exist within our own bodies, and so an encounter with his work can elicit a physical response, a recognition.
Through sculpture, installation, costume, performance and video, Molly Lowe reveals uncanny relationships between everyday objects, organic materials, and interiors both in and outside the body. Lowe’s work Cycle, presented here, uses deconstructed narratives and a strong aesthetic sense of light and color, to produce evocative imagery of a myth-like, paganesque allegory.
For George Terry, an artistic pursuit is no different than a holy endeavor. For him, “studio practice” has become an adult metonym for what “play” was as a child. It is this aspect of play that keeps his practice vital. He feels that it’s important to open up his brain and just let things fall out.
Media
Schedule
from May 10, 2013 to June 07, 2013
Opening Reception on 2013-05-10 from 18:00 to 21:00
Artist(s)
Jonathan Durham, Ben Fain, Gigi Gatewood, JR Larson, Molly Lowe, George Terry