savage sentimentality

32
Raymie Iadevaia, Wet Dreams, 2013, mixed media, 34" x 36" x 75". Courtesy of the artist. WIGNALL MUSEUM of CONTEMPORARY ART Savage Sentimentality Curated by F.A.R. Joshua Dildine Raymie Iadevaia Cole James Quinton McCurine Annelie McKenzie Mandy Lyn Perez Jason Ramos Ana Rodriguez Emily Silver Jason Stopa Emily Sudd January 12-March 14, 2015 Reception for the Artists on January 13 from 6-8pm

Upload: wignallmoca

Post on 06-Apr-2016

242 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

DESCRIPTION

 

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Savage Sentimentality

Raymie Iadevaia, Wet Dreams, 2013, mixed media, 34" x 36" x 75". Courtesy of the artist.

WIGNALL MUSEUM of C O N T E M POR A R Y A R T

Savage SentimentalityCurated by F.A.R.

Joshua Dildine

Raymie Iadevaia

Cole James

Quinton McCurine

Annelie McKenzie

Mandy Lyn Perez

Jason Ramos

Ana Rodriguez

Emily Silver

Jason Stopa

Emily Sudd

January 12-March 14, 2015Reception for the Artists on January 13 from 6-8pm

Page 2: Savage Sentimentality
Page 3: Savage Sentimentality

Savage SentimentalityCurated by F.A.R.January 12-March 14, 2015

Joshua Dildine

Raymie Iadevaia

Cole James

Quinton McCurine

Annelie McKenzie

Mandy Lyn Perez

Jason Ramos

Ana Rodriguez

Emily Silver

Jason Stopa

Emily Sudd

Page 4: Savage Sentimentality

Savage SentimentalityCurated by F.A.R.

“This is us, a people of savage sentimentality, weeping and lifting weights.” - John Jeremiah Sullivan, Pulphead

Savage Sentimentality presents a group show of painters and sculptors of uniquebackgrounds and interests connected by a tenuous relationship to sentiment.Specifically, many of the practices included allude to and/or embrace sentiment whilesimultaneously ravaging it, either with a brutish material response or vice versa – asubject matter that contradicts the sensitivity of material handling. Ultimately, SavageSentimentality attempts to identify and picture the increasing trend in the visual artstowards the acceptance and simultaneous agitation of sentiment.

Sentiment may be defined as appealingto the emotions or a state of intimacy(as opposed to a state of reason) andhas historically often been associatedwith kitsch. Traditionally, kitsch’s use ofsentimentality (in aesthetic terms, minusthe bias of high/low culture debates)operates primarily as a correctiveaesthetic experience to the accelerationand anxiety of modernity. The use ofsentiment and nostalgia counters thisuncertainty by returning to continuity,providing an experience grounded in theroutines of daily life – a call to all things

intimate and known. Aesthetically, we see this manifest in an affirmation of theeveryday through repetitions of the familiar, playing with tropes and motifs that embedviewers in a sense of conventionality, creating a simple and contained aestheticexperience within a closed system of signs.

Within the practice of the fine arts, sentiment has always been kept at a healthydistance. Modernism maintained this distance with a militant vigilance, relying on clearlydefined notions of the sentimental (or kitsch) to validate what were to be “high” oravant-garde art practices. With Post-Modernism, the restraining order on sentimentwas granted a temporary reprieve; however, it only allowed acceptance on thecondition of ironic detachment. In contrast, today’s artistic practices (under Pluralism)have moved from these more austere positions into having a much closer proximityto sentimental references and subject matter. Artistic practices of today, unlike

Quinton McCurine, Thiebode, 2011, oil paint object, 19 x 16 x 5.25inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Page 5: Savage Sentimentality

Modernist and Postmodern tendencies, seem much more willing to embrace thesentimental. Further, the works in this exhibition prioritize the affective as both prior toand in excess of the rational. The question then becomes: what has changed? And further,to what should we attribute this change? Are we seeing a new current of practicesresponding to conditions under affective capitalism? While a concrete answer may notbe readily available, a brief discussion of the ways in which recent practices uniquelyengage with sentimentality may shed some light.

While the individual artists included in this exhibition pullon a myriad of sources broadly considered sentimentalin nature, the end result is much different than and outsideof the effects of kitsch. Instead of being a sentimentalregress into a state of comfort, or a carefully maintainedclosed system of signs, the result is an acknowledgmentand active agitation of that state. The artists in thisexhibition often achieve this through a balance of a rawmaterial directness co-mingled with emotive charm,seemingly to tempt a calculated betrayal of thesentimental within the execution of their works. If acommon criticism of kitsch or sentimentality is that itcreates aesthetic depletion through repetition, theseartists arguably play with giving aesthetic value to thatdepletion.

In the works of these varied artists is acomplicated set of tensions centered on a re-intensification of the experience of time, aswell as evidence of a shift in thoughtregarding the role of sentiment and historywithin contemporary practices. While thispractice is one based almost entirely on theceaseless activity of exhuming andrediscovering the past, it does so in an effortto continually intensify the present. As such,summoned historical memory is trivialized.Thus, the artists included in this exhibitionamplify and enact this savagery through thearticulation of an aporia at the momentbetween the rationality of conceptually-driven practice(s) and pure uncomplicatedemotion by creating a detour into themachinations of these poles.

Statement by Steven Hampton

Annelie McKenzie, Heart and Star Charlotte (after Hauer), 2014, oil on found frame, 13 x 10.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Emily Sudd, Portrait of a Lady, 2014, collectedceramic objects, glaze, K26 soft brick, refractory concrete mortar, and epoxy resin,24 x 19.25 x 7 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Page 6: Savage Sentimentality

JoshuaJoshua Dildine is a LosAngeles based painter thatrepurposes autobiographicalphotographs, using them asarmatures for gesturalabstract painting. Dildinereceived his MFA fromClaremont GraduateUniversity (CA). He has beenfeatured in Exhibitions in SanFrancisco, Los Angeles, SanDiego, Nashville, andMurfreesboro, as well as theFrederick Weisman Museumof Fine Art (CA). He isrepresented by Mark MooreGallery in Culver City.

DILDINE

Joshua Dildine, Rediscover Delicious Harmony,2011, spray paint on photograph, 17.5 x 19.5inches. Courtesy of the artist and Mark MooreGallery, Culver City.

Joshua Dildine, Storytime is Not for SittingQuietly, 2012, spray paint on photograph, 30 x 22 inches. Courtesy of the artist andMark Moore Gallery, Culver City.

Page 7: Savage Sentimentality
Page 8: Savage Sentimentality

RaymieRaymie Iadevaia was born inNewport Beach, California. In2013 Raymie received an MFAat Art Center College ofDesign, Pasadena, CA. Recentexhibitions include: TheChrome Contortionist at ArtCenter College of Design,Pasadena, CA; SaccharineSalad at Autonomie Gallery,Los Angeles, CA; and theforthcoming, Are FriendsElectric? Act I at Fellows ofContemporary Art, LosAngeles, CA and Act II atClaremont GraduateUniversity, Claremont, CA. In2006 Raymie was a selectedartist in a group exhibition inSierre, Switzerland, after athree-week residency atEcole Cantonale d'Art duValais.

IADEVAIA

Raymie Iadevaia, Wet Dreams, 2013, mixedmedia, 75 x 34 x 36 inches". Courtesy of theartist.

Raymie Iadevaia, Infinite Plush, 2011, oil onpanel, 16 x 12 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Page 9: Savage Sentimentality
Page 10: Savage Sentimentality

Colejames

Cole James studiedPhilosophy and Fine Art atCal State San Bernardinobefore attending ClaremontGraduate University whereshe received a MFA inPainting & Installation. She hasreceived the LBGT GraduateFellowship, OutstandingMinority Graduate Fellowship,Alfred B. Friedman Grant,Walker Parker ArtistFellowship, MignonSchweitzer Award, and theCal State Innovations inPainting Award. Some of hermost recent exhibitionsinclude a solo show at theRobert V Fullerton Museumand as well as several groupshows in Los Angeles, NewYork, Miami & Seoul Korea.

Cole James, Spotted Purple Fruit, 2012, tar,rubber, acrylic, glitter, felt, plastic on satin, 24 x 12. Courtesy of the artist.

Cole James, Misp Fruit, 2012, tar, rubber,acrylic, glitter, felt, plastic on satin, 24 x 12inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Cole James, Snowbird Fruit, 2012, tar, rubber,acrylic, mica, felt, plastic on satin, 48 x 36inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Page 11: Savage Sentimentality
Page 12: Savage Sentimentality

QuintonMCCURINE

Quinton McCurine earned hisBFA from Notre Dame deNamur University in 2008,where he received theVincent Van Gogh Award. Hecontinued his studies at ArtCenter College of Design,where he earned his MFA in2011. Recently, his work hasbeen shown at UCLA in thegroup show Circulation,Exchange: Nugget and Gravy.He currently lives and worksin Los Angeles.

Quinton McCurine, from Muses, UntitledPhoto (2 or the Grey One), 2014, oil, spraypaint, 14 x 14 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Quinton McCurine, from Muses, UntitledPhoto (1 or the Purple One), 2014, oil, spraypaint, 14 x 14 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Quinton McCurine, from Muses, UntitledPhoto (the Brown One), 2014, oil, spray paint,8 x 14 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Page 13: Savage Sentimentality
Page 14: Savage Sentimentality

Annelie

Annelie McKenzie, Pink Charlotte (after Unknown), 2014, oil paint and rhinestones onfound frame, 11.5 x 9.5 inches. Courtesy of theartist.

Annelie McKenzie, Purple Charlotte (after Pellegrini), 2014, oil, plastic gems, and pompoms on found frame, 8.5 x 6.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Annelie McKenzie, Rainbow Charlotte (afterWeerts), 2014, oil on found frame, 10.5 x 13inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Born in Montreal, Canada,Annelie McKenzie graduatedfrom the University ofCalgary with a BFA andearned her MFA fromCalifornia State University,Long Beach, in 2013. She hasexhibited at Mark MooreGallery (CA), Torrance ArtMuseum (CA), Avis FrankGallery (TX), ContemporaryCalgary (Canada) and isrepresented by CB1 Gallery inLos Angeles. She won the$10,000 Against the GrainAward in 2012 and wasrecently named one of "EightLA Artists You Should Know"in Fabrik Magazine #19. Theartist lives and works in LosAngeles, CA.

mckenzie

Page 15: Savage Sentimentality

STATEMENTThe four pieces in this showdepict the murder scene inwhich Charlotte Cordaymurdered Jean-Paul Maratduring the French Revolutionin 1793. Numerous artistswere inspired to paint thescene as they imagined it,and my pieces are inspiredby theirs. My paintingsreference the artists’ originalimagery and composition,but are transformed by theuse of impasto paint blobsand craft materials - theyare, in a sense, cover songs,remixes, or pages of ascrapbook.

I’m interested in historicalrepresentations of femininityin painting (bothstereotypical and subversive,as it exists in the originalimagery), theprocess/materiality of mysecond painting, and also thecontexts of their making.The resulting copies set upintertextual relationshipsbetween my own work andthe originals, a conversationabout the construction ofartist identities and gender.

Page 16: Savage Sentimentality

Mandy Lyn Mandy Lyn Perez is a LosAngeles artist, a New Jerseynative, and a New Mexicotransplant. Her work drawsaesthetic influence from allthree. Mandy moved to NewMexico as a teenager to laterattend New Mexico StateUniversity and the Universityof New Mexico, and in LosAngeles she studies at UCLA.Her studio is currently in theheart of LA in MidCity. Herwork is a constant evolutionof itself, each paintingincludes themes andtechniques from the previouswhile adding new bits to theconversation. Her work, onhand built wood panels andpiled with canvas and paint,straddles the line betweenpainting and sculpting.

PEREZ

Mandy Lyn Perez, MTV, 2014. oil paint,acrylic, supergel, cardboard, and canvas adhered to wood panel, 49 x 48 inches.Courtesy of the artist.

Mandy Lyn Perez, Pineapple, 2014, oil acrylic,sparkle foam, and canvas on canvas adheredto wood panel, 62 x 48 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Page 17: Savage Sentimentality

STATEMENTMy paintings come to me cumulatively—each idea is an improvisation off of itspredecessor. I never know what a painting will be in the end since it’s always ajourney to some new kind of beauty. I know I’m finished when it looks good. Ithink an artist’s talent is knowing what looks good; the ability to refine themessy muck of a creative storm. Acquiring technical skills is merely a means tothat end. I fumble through a series of ideas and inventions trying to arrive atnew uses of mediums and new comprehensions of a painted surface— tweakingthe material until my eye and my instinct are satisfied.

I gravitate toward making work that balances the line between sculpture andpainting. The current themes in my work include but are not limited to: theshapes of santo imagery— the arch cradling a point of central interest, patternsand colors that I associate with ‘the country’— the aesthetic of old floured orstriped pillow cases, retro button up shirts and farm houses, and viscosity—anything I can do to create an interesting protruding mass.

Page 18: Savage Sentimentality

Jason Ramos is an artist,curator, and teacher based inLos Angeles. He maintains hispainting practice at RAIDProjects, where he serves asProprietor and Director. He isalso the Assistant Curator ofthe Torrance Art Museum andpart of ARTRA Curatorial. Hehas shown in groupexhibitions nationally andinternationally and wasformerly represented by co-operative gallery initiativeDurden and Ray.

Jason Ramos, Ernie Kovacs, 2014, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches. Courtesy of theartist.

Jason Ramos, Gilda Radner, 2014, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches. Courtesy of theartist.

Jasonramos

Page 19: Savage Sentimentality

STATEMENTAll the works are an attempt at intimacy,at closeness. The act of paintingdocuments an intimate relationshipbetween me and the source material.Whether they are photos, album covers,Google search images, film stills orother source material, the language andconventions of painting provide meavenues for a consummation ofunderstanding with what the imagesrepresent to me.

Page 20: Savage Sentimentality

Ana Rodriguez grew up in thesmall community ofMaywood, California, which isadjacent to the industrialcities of Commerce andVernon and their numerouschemical plants, refineries,public waste areas andfoundries. Rodriguez recallsbeing highly aware of thecontrast between the putrid,foul smell of dead animalsand the sweet scents frombakeries and cake shopsfrom her city. Rodriguezcombines patterns that rangefrom kitchen cabinet liners,linoleum flooring or wallpaper.The mix of sources isreflected in Rodriguez'spaintings which combinebrightly coloredgesture/cake-like batteragainst the decorative. AnaRodriguez earned a BFA fromCalifornia State University,Long Beach (2007) and anMFA from Otis College of Artand Design (2009).

Ana Rodriguez, Untitled, 2013-14, acrylic andoil on panel, 60 x 48 inches. Courtesy of theartist.

Ana Rodriguez, Untitled, 2013-14, acrylic andoil on panel, 60 x 48 inches. Courtesy of theartist.

AnarODRIGUEZ

Page 21: Savage Sentimentality
Page 22: Savage Sentimentality

Emily Silver originally fromUpstate New York, lives andworks in Los Angeles CA.Emily received her BFA fromThe School of Visual Arts inNYC, and an MFA from PennState University in 2008. Herwork has been shown acrossthe country and was recentlyincluded in the SUR Biennial inLos Angeles. She is currentlyon the faculty at SantaMonica College.

STATEMENTThis body of work seeks toexamine the space betweenthe celebratory, and thetragedy that simultaneouslyexist in the life of an event.

As subject matter I look tofunerals, parties, parades, andcarnivals, in their finite nature,for the work to be actively apart of these sensualcelebratory spaces. Thematerials hold a metaphor ofthe ephemeral and the

Emily Silver, Darker Times, 2014, mixed media,36 x 12 x 8 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Emily Silver, It Ain’t Right, but It Happened,2013, mixed media, 30 x 17 x 12 inches.

EmilySILVER

Page 23: Savage Sentimentality

cherished creating objectsand videos that play withwhat is monumental ordecorative, comic or tragic,and beg the viewer toreconsider their relationship tothese ideas.

Though many objects anddrawings lend themselves tothe monument, the stackingand frivolity of materialsbegins to throw these massesor assemblages off balance.

The work commands thespace through the precariousways it stands on the ground,whether balancing on abowling ball, or tethered to ascrew, this begins to force anexperience of tenuousrelationships to what seemedfamiliar from a distance. Theuse of bright color drapingthe forms and patterntightening up areas, blurringlines, creates a dialogue

between all the works. It is in a way, a means of elevating these party suppliesby using sophisticated handling and re-imagining of their functions. Throughthis chaos the tragedy in the celebratory starts to emerge with thesehaphazardly thrown together, yet meticulously handled pieces, it asks theviewer to look closer at themselves and the world around them.

Many of the sculptures become part of short animations or photographs thatbegin to shift our perception of what is real, what is desired, and what isanticipated. Heavily influenced by my surroundings, the work mashes theindividual and group, the celebratory and discarded, the monumental anddiminutive. Though these pieces seem overtly playful, there is an undercurrentof the tragic, absurd and unexpected invading these spaces.

Page 24: Savage Sentimentality

Jason Stopa, b. 1983. is apainter, writer and curator inNew York. Recent 2013exhibits include Windows atDenny Gallery, Silhouette atthe Elizabeth Foundation forthe Arts, NY, New Paintingsat John Davis Gallery. Stopareceived a BFA from IndianaUniversity and and MFA fromPratt Institute. He is acontributor to Art In America,The Brooklyn Rail andWhitewall Magazine. Hiswork has been reviewed inInterview Magazine, ArtInfoand New American Paintings.

Jason Stopa, Watermelon with KB, 2013, oiland enamel on canvas, 36 x 36 inches. Courtesy of the artist.

Jason Stopa, Public Enemy, 2013, oil andenamel on canvas, 36 x 36 inches. Courtesy ofthe artist.

Jasonstopa

Page 25: Savage Sentimentality
Page 26: Savage Sentimentality

Emily Sudd lives and worksin Los Angeles, CA. Sheholds an MA in ceramicsfrom California StateUniversity, Northridge(CSUN); and is currently anMFA student in visual art atthe University of California,Los Angeles (UCLA). Herwork has been shown atUCLA's New Wight Gallery,among other venues, and iscurrently featured in theCeramic Top 40 exhibitionin Kansas City, MO,organized by FerrinContemporary.

Emily Sudd, Portrait of a Lady, 2014, collectedceramic objects, glaze, K26 soft brick, refractory concrete mortar, and epoxy resin,24 x 19.25 x 7 inches. Courtesy of the artist.Photography by Elizabeth Conn-Hollyn.

Emily Sudd, Still Life with Fruit, 2014, collectedceramic objects, glaze, K26 soft brick, refractory concrete mortar, and epoxy resin,28 x 23.5 x 4.75 inches. Courtesy of the artist.Photography by Elizabeth Conn-Hollyn.

EmilysUDD

Page 27: Savage Sentimentality

STATEMENTMy sculptures combine discarded ceramic objects in structures that engage inconversations with still life, narrative, and abstract painting; postminimalist sculpture;hierarchies of materials and taste; and the role of the kitsch object.

I am interested in exploring the categorization and hierarchies of materials andobjects as they function in art and culture. Using traditional ceramic firing processes,my current sculptural work transforms collectible kitsch ceramic objects andfunctional ware into fine art sculptures. After collecting and arranging the variousitems, I subject all of the objects to the same firing conditions, with surprisingresults. The process produces the literal and metaphorical melting down of themateriality of domestic and artistic space. In the firing, some objects retain theirform, while others melt down into fluid clay and glaze. Materials mix togethercreating swirls of color and pattern and globs of texture and form. Lowbrow kitschobjects merge into painting and sculpture in compositions that seem to suggestboth the opposition and equalization of decoration, materials, and form.

Page 28: Savage Sentimentality

F.A.R. is a Los Angeles-based non-profit arts organization. Functioningwithout a permanent exhibition space, office, or paid staff, F.A.R.'s programs and services are organized and administered by a Board of Directors who meet bimonthly, and a Board of Advisors. These boards arecomprised of artists, arts professionals, and those with vested interest toserve the organization. The Board of Directors is responsible for all aspects of F.A.R.'s programming, policymaking, fundraising, grant writingand administration. There is no director, and all decisions are determinedby consensus. Visit: http://www.far-la.org/

Page 29: Savage Sentimentality

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSCHAFFEY COLLEGE GOVERNING BOARDLee C. McDougal, PresidentGary L. George, Vice PresidentKatie Roberts, ClerkKathleen Brugger, Immediate Past PresidentPaul J. Gomez, Member

SUPERTINTENDENT/PRESIDENTHenry Shannon, Ph.D.

ASSOCIATE SUPERINTENDENT, INSTRUCTION AND INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESSSherrie Guerrero, Ed.D.

DEAN, VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTSJason Chevalier, Ph.D.

DIRECTOR/CURATOR, WIGNALL MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ARTRebecca Trawick

ASSISTANT CURATORRoman Stollenwerk

PRINTINGChaffey College Print Shop

Institutional support for the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art is provided byChaffey College, the School of Visual & Performing Arts and the President’sOffice.

Page 30: Savage Sentimentality

WIGNALL MUSEUM OFCONTEMPORARY ARTMISSION STATEMENTThe Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art presents exhibitions, education, andcommunity programming to our diverse audiences in order to foster criticalthinking and to encourage innovation and investigation through contemporaryart. The Museum advances the mission of Chaffey College by contributing to theintellectual and cultural life of the college community and offering equal accessto quality programming for the diverse communities of the Inland Empire.

ABOUT USThe Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art serves as a learning lab forinvestigating and contemplating contemporary visual culture, featuring temporaryexhibitions of innovative contemporary art throughout the year. Exhibitions andprogramming are organized with our students in mind in order to augment theiracademic experience by complementing the college’s curricula and broadeningthe understanding of contemporary art. Our exhibitions allow visitors to see andexperience a variety of contemporary artistic practices that examine timely andrelevant topics.

The Wignall is an important resource for students, faculty, and staff that can actas a catalyst for a student’s own creative investigations or enhance classroomexperience with direct engagement with art. For many visitors, exhibitions at theWignall Museum of Contemporary Art may provide an exciting first encounterwith the visual arts. The Museum strives to transform the art museum experienceinto something unexpected, extraordinary and engaging. We invite you to visitus and to explore!

A NOTE ABOUT OUR EXHIBITIONS & PROGRAMMINGThe Wignall Museum is an important part of the educational programs andmission of Chaffey College. Some of the artwork in our exhibitions andpublications may contain mature content. The views and opinions expressed inthis publication and exhibition are those of the authors and artists and do notreflect the opinions or policy of Chaffey College.

Page 31: Savage Sentimentality

MISSION AND COMMITMENTChaffey College improves lives within the diverse communities it serves throughequal access to quality occupational, transfer, general education, and foundationprograms in a learning-centered environment where student success is highlyvalued, supported, and assessed.

Page 32: Savage Sentimentality

Visit us online at www.chaffey.edu/wignallFollow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wignallmuseumFollow us on Twitter @WignallMuseumFollow us on Google+Follow us on Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/wignallmuseumFollow us on Tumblr at www.tumblr.com/blog/wignallmoca

WIGNALL MUSEUM of C O N T E M POR A R Y A R T