MFA Exhibition:
November 18-21, 2007
Opening Reception:
Sunday, November 18, 2007 6-9pm
Location:
California State University Long Beach
This exhibition examines imagery as a commodity; the use of the image in the satisfaction of wants resulting in its deterioration or transformation. The work presents a mash-up of iconic, photo-based sculptural works and wearable pieces that play on themes of function and decoration.
The first body of work features intricate, mechanical structures supporting highly-detailed, sculptural interpretations of stencils and the images they yield. These pieces explore product-vs.-bi-product relationships. They challenge the viewer to discern the derivational and develop an awareness of functionality.
The second group splices the informative and the ornate. Purpose-driven pictograms are re-mixed with elaborate, almost frivolous, decorative scrolls. The juxtaposition of these design components creates beautiful fashion objects of unsettling connotations.
Decoration as a noun is investigated in the third set of pieces that replicate the visual arrangements of meritorious badges or medals. These new badges are modeled from dissected and collaged toys. They project a candy-coated nostalgia of childhood mixed with an unnerving awareness of the liabilities these images and systems develop over the course of one's life.
