Vanishing Point
October 1st, 2010
Vanishing Point aims to present work that confronts the notion of a “new abstract”. Inclusive to all medium, the exhibition presents abstraction as a means of reconciliation to the dislocation of self in modern life.
Engaging concepts of science, personal histories, politics and beyond, these artists build upon the histories of abstract art to fashion a sense of stability in an environment ever changing, ever updating – an environment built upon a constant feed for more information, with its reference point focused evermore on the self in synthetic environments.
Through this visual “storm” these artists have honed their use of abstraction not only as a means to understand their world, but as a mechanism to locate themselves as an individual in a sea of turbulent messages and meaning. Our understanding of our self becomes more abstract each day – these artists represent a direction where abstraction is no longer universal, but an intrinsically personal understanding.
Below – Excerpt from the curatorial statement by Alexander Conner
In Holland Cotter’s February New York Times article entitled, “The Boom is Over, Long Live The Art!”, he poses a variety of rhetorical questions:
%“Will the art industry continue to cling to art’s traditional analog status, to insist that the material, buyable object is the only truly legitimate form of art, which is what the painting revival of the last few years has really been about? Will contemporary art continue to be, as it is now, a fancyish Fortunoff’s, a party supply shop for the Love Boat crew? Or will artists — and teachers, and critics — jump ship, swim for land that is still hard to locate on existing maps and make it their home and workplace?”
These questions touch on an aspect of revolution through parsing escapism that we at Adaptation have noticed for some time in work by early-career artists today. This is not an ascetic endeavor, but one which has relegated itself beyond the realms of objective inclusion and into subjective collusion. Artists who have graduated from academies into the world of day jobs experience the comfort of camaraderie with so many others like themselves. However, this large amount of makers, competing with one another tooth-and-nail for exhibition, residency, and grant opportunities, leads to a more competitive and complex field of advancement and play within individual’s art-making practice.
Abstraction, as a conceptual entity within art-making, is a handy vehicle for the artist to attempt to make sense of, as well as obfuscate, the quickly approaching future (or for the nihilistic, perhaps end) of their art-making. These artists treat the abstract with a sensibility of engagement and distance that is dependent on the manifestation of their own belonging within different contexts. And it is this constant hindsight, this nostalgia without irony, that is particularly indicative of their individual interpretations of their collective revolution.%
Artists
Strauss Borque-LaFrance / Jenna Hannum / Katie Hinton / Simona Josan / Michael Kalmbach / Adam Lister / Caroline Santa / Cullen Stephenson / Matthew West
Adaptation info
Our goal is to provide challenging and dynamic curatorial interventions to traditional and non-traditional art venues. We curate, develop and produce exhibitions and related events at off-site venues ranging from houses, storefronts, backyards as well as traditional gallery and museum spaces. The activities generated and developed by Adaptation attempt to provide a venue and a context for artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, designers, architects and others of the creative ilk to actively engage in the cross-pollination of ideas, practice and inspiration through the activation of a space.
Engaging concepts of science, personal histories, politics and beyond, these artists build upon the histories of abstract art to fashion a sense of stability in an environment ever changing, ever updating – an environment built upon a constant feed for more information, with its reference point focused evermore on the self in synthetic environments.
Through this visual “storm” these artists have honed their use of abstraction not only as a means to understand their world, but as a mechanism to locate themselves as an individual in a sea of turbulent messages and meaning. Our understanding of our self becomes more abstract each day – these artists represent a direction where abstraction is no longer universal, but an intrinsically personal understanding.
Below – Excerpt from the curatorial statement by Alexander Conner
In Holland Cotter’s February New York Times article entitled, “The Boom is Over, Long Live The Art!”, he poses a variety of rhetorical questions:
%“Will the art industry continue to cling to art’s traditional analog status, to insist that the material, buyable object is the only truly legitimate form of art, which is what the painting revival of the last few years has really been about? Will contemporary art continue to be, as it is now, a fancyish Fortunoff’s, a party supply shop for the Love Boat crew? Or will artists — and teachers, and critics — jump ship, swim for land that is still hard to locate on existing maps and make it their home and workplace?”
These questions touch on an aspect of revolution through parsing escapism that we at Adaptation have noticed for some time in work by early-career artists today. This is not an ascetic endeavor, but one which has relegated itself beyond the realms of objective inclusion and into subjective collusion. Artists who have graduated from academies into the world of day jobs experience the comfort of camaraderie with so many others like themselves. However, this large amount of makers, competing with one another tooth-and-nail for exhibition, residency, and grant opportunities, leads to a more competitive and complex field of advancement and play within individual’s art-making practice.
Abstraction, as a conceptual entity within art-making, is a handy vehicle for the artist to attempt to make sense of, as well as obfuscate, the quickly approaching future (or for the nihilistic, perhaps end) of their art-making. These artists treat the abstract with a sensibility of engagement and distance that is dependent on the manifestation of their own belonging within different contexts. And it is this constant hindsight, this nostalgia without irony, that is particularly indicative of their individual interpretations of their collective revolution.%
Artists
Strauss Borque-LaFrance / Jenna Hannum / Katie Hinton / Simona Josan / Michael Kalmbach / Adam Lister / Caroline Santa / Cullen Stephenson / Matthew West
Adaptation info
Our goal is to provide challenging and dynamic curatorial interventions to traditional and non-traditional art venues. We curate, develop and produce exhibitions and related events at off-site venues ranging from houses, storefronts, backyards as well as traditional gallery and museum spaces. The activities generated and developed by Adaptation attempt to provide a venue and a context for artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, designers, architects and others of the creative ilk to actively engage in the cross-pollination of ideas, practice and inspiration through the activation of a space.
