Material Matters
July 5 - September 9, 2006
Curated by Jason Hughes in conjunction with Maryland Art Place's 25th anniversary.
Featured artists: Laura Burns, Liz Ensz, Cliff Evans, Walterio Iraheta, James Johnson, Joel Kyack, Adrian Lohmüller, Daniel Rich, Simón Vega, Jason Zimmerman
Curatorial Statement
In curating Material Matters, I wanted to work with artists from various parts of the United States, Europe, and Central America, each of whom is circulating ideas that directly challenge the careless arrogance and ‘disconnect’ that hyper-consumer culture seems to emanate. The ideology behind consumerism innately manipulates our wants as needs in order to temporarily pacify our internal struggles and insecurities, while embracing us through a manufactured “consumer” identity. In so doing, we become complicit, indifferent, or totally naive as to how our choices and habits affect our personal lives, the greater community, and entire cultures. Together these artists provide testimony to how consumer culture is issued as a moral code for society, and the social, political, and spiritual transformations that result.
Furthermore, the artists in Material Matters cover a range of ideas, disciplines, and aesthetics, which for this exhibition all converge on issues addressing both complicity and security as they pertain to personal, familial, or national issues. In addition, each of these artists also addresses aspects of our direct (and indirect) involvement within a global society, especially how our daily activities contribute to the same contemporary crises from which we hope to protect ourselves. That said, while this exhibition may be labeled as populist, political, or socially slanted, my overall goal is not to add to the contemporary discourse between artists and institution, liberal and conservative, or activist and conformist. Instead, I seek to shed light on how our individual and collective experiences provide us with powers to transform who we are so that we can then work towards creating the world that we want to experience.
Curated by Jason Hughes in conjunction with Maryland Art Place's 25th anniversary.
Featured artists: Laura Burns, Liz Ensz, Cliff Evans, Walterio Iraheta, James Johnson, Joel Kyack, Adrian Lohmüller, Daniel Rich, Simón Vega, Jason Zimmerman
Curatorial Statement
In curating Material Matters, I wanted to work with artists from various parts of the United States, Europe, and Central America, each of whom is circulating ideas that directly challenge the careless arrogance and ‘disconnect’ that hyper-consumer culture seems to emanate. The ideology behind consumerism innately manipulates our wants as needs in order to temporarily pacify our internal struggles and insecurities, while embracing us through a manufactured “consumer” identity. In so doing, we become complicit, indifferent, or totally naive as to how our choices and habits affect our personal lives, the greater community, and entire cultures. Together these artists provide testimony to how consumer culture is issued as a moral code for society, and the social, political, and spiritual transformations that result.
Furthermore, the artists in Material Matters cover a range of ideas, disciplines, and aesthetics, which for this exhibition all converge on issues addressing both complicity and security as they pertain to personal, familial, or national issues. In addition, each of these artists also addresses aspects of our direct (and indirect) involvement within a global society, especially how our daily activities contribute to the same contemporary crises from which we hope to protect ourselves. That said, while this exhibition may be labeled as populist, political, or socially slanted, my overall goal is not to add to the contemporary discourse between artists and institution, liberal and conservative, or activist and conformist. Instead, I seek to shed light on how our individual and collective experiences provide us with powers to transform who we are so that we can then work towards creating the world that we want to experience.
