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Theater of The Absurdo LEON RICHMOND
July 10, 2021 - August 13, 2021
LOCATED IN COMMUNITY GALLERY
Artist Statement
Why is when, and now is why, and we will ALWAYS want, AND all is “What the holy crap!”
Never has this been an obstacle for lucid critical or crucial thought for whom the dummbbbell tolls in the skies of material wantonness. Q: How did we even get here? The needs, creeds and greeds of all the wants are re-assembled in this body of work. Faux luxury facilitated by dead corporate machines like Sears, JC Penny’s and Montgomery Wards with 1200 page catalogs are a good place to begin perhaps. Paper bricks printed on glossy non-archival paper layered to the sky for empire building. If aliens from outer space were to visit us right now, many of their questions could be answered in those catalogs. Core samples have been gathered in these non-fine art things and born again from merely rummaging through the grave yards of consumable “goods” re-swapped for $$ in the stores of thrift and performing fleas. By the process of cultural anthropology, many of these cheap consumer goods have been given a new life, again to adorn the walls and tables of mainstream America. The artist has found inspiration in the cheap stuff of yester-year, thusly re-arting the stuff that was mass-produced to give the façade of style and class. So hurry! We’re running out of stuff fast!
The white middle/upper/other classes examined have been recorded in both the good and bad books of history and consequently flushed out the birth canals of the unimaginative landfills (progress). Facsimiles with objective meanings defy our understanding in the rubbish now, yet provide proof-positive of who we were, who we are and what we mostly still want to be. So uselessly useful in their time now become “utilitarian fine art” again for their utilitarian purpose in the third place. Artistic alchemical license has freely given the artist a full-on-all-out-all-American stratagem with these junk store findings. America in its most peculiar vintage hour… American at its final artistic process…
So for now, we look to the past for where we went wrong, right and/or left. Based on the hunting and gathering of antiquated pictorial evidence, allegorical signifiers, aggressive branding and personal insider insights, observable clues are given in an absurdist, unflinching and often lowbrow way for your viewing entertainment. To laugh or to cry?… You decide…
Meet the artist at the closing reception Friday, August 13, 5 – 7pm in the Community Gallery. Everyone is welcome and masks are required.
