Constructed Histories
Feb 13 - March 21, 2015 | David B Smith Gallery, Denver, CO
Curated by William Morrow, Independent Curator
ARTISTS: Sanford Biggers (American), Jeremy Dean (American), Tania Dibbs (American), Teresa Diehl (Lebanese), Christoph Dreager (Swiss), Glenn Kaino (American), Dinh Q Lé (Vietnamese), McCallum Tarry (American), and Aaron Skolnick (American)
The David B. Smith Gallery is pleased to announce Constructed Histories, curated by William Morrow, opening on Friday, Feb. 13 from 7-9pm.
Societal tendency is to construct and interpret information to suit our needs and desired outcomes. It is therefore not surprising that artists continue to challenge the status quo and inspire us in their ability to mine the complex layers of history. While the artists in this exhibition are culling from quite different histories, there is a convergence in their ability to inspire alternative perspectives.
Glenn Kaino’s sculptural assemblages bring the rebel’s voice to the forefront and remind of us of the fragile balancing act within Western epistemology. Alternatively, Tania Dibbs’ biological landscape paintings address the consequences of our historically justified and accepted pursuits of technological progress.
The superficial propensities of our culture to believe in the pursuit of enlightenment from the collection of information versus the act of truly knowing is at the crux of Teresa Diehl’s nine-channel video installation. Dinh Q Lé combines photography with traditional Vietnamese basket weaving techniques to illuminate the dualities of historical information and the interconnectedness of people and place.
Similarly, Sanford Biggers conceptually weaves together a complex layer of personal and historical symbols and objects, intentionally defying a linear reading of his work.
The reductive qualities of Aaron Skolnick’s drawings and McCallum Tarry’s mixed media works, both derived from photographic archives of the Civil Rights era, are a subtle and poetic reminder of the eroding collective memory.
On the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Japan, Christoph Draeger’s photographic puzzles boldly confront this fading collective memory and our ability to find emotional resolve with man’s worst atrocities.
Bradley McCallum’s portraits of political leaders accused of crimes against humanity capture the tension around their trials and the pursuit of justice for modern day atrocities.
In Jeremy Dean’s American flag constructions, the artist has peeled back the complex layers of American history to examine how we as a collective society balance the socio- political stresses that tend to break us apart. In his monumental sculpture, Dean alludes to the cyclical nature of the struggles of modern man and the hopeful possibilities of unity -“For everything that rises must converge.”2
2 O’Conner, Flannery (1965). Everything that Rises Must Converge. A collection of short stories.
SELECTED PRESS:
