: The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum will present three new
exhibitions opening September 19 and running through January 5.
All three will be featured at an opening reception on September
19 from 3 to 6 pm.
"Bottle: Contemporary Art and Vernacular Tradition" explores the
use of the bottle in contemporary art making, and seeks to reveal
how deeply rooted the bottle is as an archetypal cultural object.
Exhibition artists include Joseph Beuys, Dove Bradshaw, Bethany
Bristow, Moyra Davey, Tony Feher, Howard Finster, Phil Frost,
David Hammons, Mona Hatoum, Damien Hirst, Donald Lipski,
Whitfield Lovell, Josiah McElheny, Barry McGee, Sean Mellyn,
Olivia Parker, Maria Porges, Rosamond Purcell, Charles Ray,
Alison Saar, Arlene Shechet, Claude Simard, Kiki Smith, William
Wegman and Jil Weinstock. The exhibition will also include
"whimsy" bottles from the collection of the American Folk Art
Museum, New York City.
The exhibition begins with a brief exploration of the bottle in
art from popular sources. The selection of "whimsy" bottles will
reflect the earlier European traditions of building objects, such
as ships, inside glass containers. Other objects from popular
culture presented as an introduction will include an original
"Mrs Butterworth's" syrup bottle from the 1970s, a Jean-Paul
Gaultier "Madonna" perfume bottle from the early 1990s and a
collection of Poire Williams brandy bottles.
The exhibition also examines the role of the "bottle tree" in
Twentieth Century art and culture. Rooted in an early African
belief that evil spirits can be captured in glass bottles, the
bottle tree is a folk tradition once common in the rural South
and in Caribbean communities.
The Aldrich will also feature solo exhibitions: "Shahzia
Sikander: Nemesis," featuring new digital work by the Pakistani
artist, and "David Opdyke: 2004 Aldrich Emerging Artist Award
Recipient," new and recent work by the artist in the museum's
Leir Gallery.
"Nemesis" is a traveling exhibition in two parts, organized by
Aldrich associate curator Jessica Hough in collaboration with
curator Ian Berry of The Tank Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at
Skidmore College.
Born in the multicultural city of Lahore, Pakistan, Sikander grew
up equally conversant with international pop culture and her
country's heritage of miniature painting, which originated as a
court tradition for illustrating royal manuscripts. By Sikander's
day, cliché miniature images were "abundant as gift items
everywhere, saturating the tourist market," she recalls. "My
initial feeling...was that it was kitsch, but I saw the potential
of subversion." Today, Sikander freely mingles Hindu and Muslim
painting techniques with contemporary Western elements, from
American painting and pop culture to images of war, supermodels
and fairy tales. Sikander's innovative blend of ancient and
contemporary themes will be evident in the new works on view at
The Aldrich.
A highlight of the exhibition will be the debut of an animation
that the artist is producing. The animation will focus on
landscape, an essential aspect of miniature painting that is
traditionally secondary to the action or figures in the
composition. The exhibition will also include a suite of 50
graphite drawings, titled "51 Ways of Looking." These highly
detailed line drawings are similar to sketches for miniature
paintings.
Sikander will also create a site-specific wall installation on
the museum's new 16-square-foot "art wall" in the atrium. The
installation will be a spontaneous reaction to the character of
the space and the content of her new suite of drawings, which
will be created on site over a period of ten days.
Opdyke, selected as the recipient of the Aldrich Emerging Artist
Award for 2004 by the curatorial staff of the museum, will
exhibit his work in a solo exhibition.
Born in 1969 in upstate New York, Opdyke received a BFA in
painting and sculpture from the University of Cincinnati in 1992.
Opdyke's sculpture and multimedia works link criticism of US
foreign and domestic policies with views on globalization and
consumerism. Based upon his background as a painter and
experience as an architectural model-maker, Opdyke's meticulous
eye and almost obsessive approach toward craftsmanship infuse his
work with a utilitarian sensibility while pointing out the
absurdities of American culture.
Included in this exhibition will be new work, including "Defense
Development," a milled and painted urethane foam sculpture
depicting an aerial view of the Pentagon. Upon closer inspection,
the building is made up of the complicated roof lines one might
see when flying over a suburban landscape, positing questions
about American excesses by depicting big government as suburban
sprawl. Loaded with satire, the plywood geographical puzzle title
"Unity" depicts the world as Opdyke thinks Americans see it, as a
part of the United States. An untitled piece being constructed
for the exhibition mimics the structure of a giant cruise ship
rendered in rusted plumbing. Large and majestic, yet clearly
decaying and ominous, Opdyke underscores the frivolity and
wastefulness in such American pursuits.
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is at 258 Main Street. For
information, 203-438-4519.
