The notorious Rugby Road. Home to one of the biggest social outlets on campus. A spot where students go to meet people, to let loose with friends or maybe even learn a little something new. We all know the spot I'm talking about: the University of Virginia Art Museum.
Until late October, the museum we know and love is hosting a new exhibit entitled Complicit! Contemporary American Art & Mass Culture.
A major contribution to the Charlottesville art community, Complicit! is the result of two years of hard work and is divided into seven sections: Derivative Tales, Remix Media, UnNaturalism, Xtreme Combines, Identity Ennui, Ultra Artifice and Figuring Tradition. It is based on the book "Sweet Dreams: Contemporary Art and Complicity," written by Media Studies Prof. Johanna Drucker.
Featuring work from over 50 artists, Complicit! focuses on the argument that contemporary artists are now participating in an "active dialogue" with mass culture. In many cases, the artists draw from the media for their subject matter. In light of this, some pieces are politically charged or environmentally concerned, while others stem from memories of childhood television shows or advertisements.
Another facet of the theme is the artists' choice of medium. For instance, in "Heaven's Gate," Nancy Chunn uses ink and pastel to cover three pages of The New York Times, a task she repeated daily for a year. Susan Bee explores the mindset of past cultures by incorporating cut-outs of media icons in her painting, "Tree of Lost Dreams." Some artists, such as Kevin Everson, use film -- an unavoidable part of our society -- to convey their ideas. Other artists simply went to Home Depot or other consumer-friendly stores to purchase tactile materials not often used in fine art. They bring them back to their studio, highlighting a return to studio-based art.
The pieces featured in Complicit! are not just unique in terms of their production. The artists' approach is also refreshing; these works display a sense of playfulness as the artists joke and play with language. Maria Schor exemplifies these qualities in her piece "Nukoolar," which features the word nuclear written phonetically -- as President Bush pronounced it in a Sept. 11 memorial speech. Another commonality among the art is a return to aesthetics. Many of the works are pleasant to view and aesthetically beautiful. However, Complicit! is not just confined to the walls of the U.Va. Art Museum. There is much more.
Complicit! Codex, which continues the ideas of Complicit! runs Sept. 1-Oct. 9 at Les Yeux du Monde gallery on the Downtown Mall.
Anna Gaskell: Everything that Rises Is open from September 1-30 at the Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville.
Along with the exhibit, the museum is offering the "Complicit! Symposium," a string of free programs aimed at educating the public and building on the themes of Complicit! The first feature, "Art Criticism Now," is a panel discussion with artists and others about subjects like the messages and methods of contemporary art, and will take place Friday, Oct. 6, 2-4:30 p.m. in the Museum. At 5 p.m. The New Yorker's art critic, Peter Schjeldahl, will give a lecture on "Tales of Love" in Room 158 of Campbell Hall.
Lastly, another panel discussion exploring the identity and function of art in modern society, "Contemporary Art and Mass Culture" will be held on Saturday, Oct. 7, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. at Gravity Lounge on the Downtown Mall.
Complicit! gives viewers a chance to reflect on current culture. As Andrea Douglas, curator of collections and exhibitions said, "It has a languageappropriate to this time." It would be a shame to miss what this exhibithas to say.
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
