New works by Isabelle Lutterodt, Sheila Pinkel, Alex Donis, Abdelali Dahrouch. The curator Patrick Merrill invited the four artists in this exhibit because each deal with some aspect of the intersection of race, class, gender, sex, etc.
Isabelle Lutterodt, Sheila Pinkel, Alex Donis, Abdelali Dahrouch
Reception, Thursday, November 11, 7-9pm
The Kellogg University Art Gallery at California State Polytechnic
University, Pomona will present new works by Isabelle Lutterodt, Sheila
Pinkel, Alex Donis, Abdelali Dahrouch.
Gallery hours are Tues. through Fri. 11:00 -
4:00, and Sat. 12:00 - 4:00. Parking is $4. A reception for the artists will
be held on Nov. 11 from 7:00-9:00 PM. The reception and party is open and
free to the public.
The core idea for Nexus centers around hierarchy. What I call "dominisms",
e.g. race, age, sex, gender, class are structured by hierarchy. I believe
the primary dynamic in our culture is domination and submission. I don't
think progress is possible unless the interdependence of everyone and
everything in our culture is not only acknowledged but that strategies are
developed that employ that interdependence to resist the 'dominisms' of our
culture. When asked by Jerry Quickley of KPFK, a Pacifica radio station,
what did she see as the current state of Feminism, bell hooks proposed the
idea of "Visionary Feminism." She saw this as an inter-connection of class,
race, sex, gender etc. in its opposition to the primary dynamic of
patriarchy.
I think the ideas essential to ecology are pertinent here. All of these
issues are inter related. They are interdependent not only to each other but
to the power structures they are opposed to. The medium this dynamic moves
in are all the homogenous and differential arenas of human nature and
culture. They are acted out in all our institutions - economic, judicial,
religious.
I want Nexus to be defined by artists that employ these ideas of
inter-dependence. Obviously not in every piece, but over the whole of their
work the interconnectedness of race, gender, sex class are manifest.
I invited the four artists in this exhibit Isabelle Lutterodt, Sheila
Pinkel, Alex Donis, Abdelali Dahrouch because each deal with some aspect of
the intersection of race, class, gender, sex, etc.
close to home: periphery/location
Isabele Lutterodt was born in England and uses her unusual genealogy (her
father is from Ghana, her mother is British) to explore identity, fantasy
and memory through created or found photographs and texts. In exploring her
family's history, issues of race, class and colonialism become immediate.
Isabelle will travel to Ghana to create images of the landscape and through
a layering of the real and the metaphorical explore the difference/sameness
in the relationship to the African landscape of that of her white
grandmother and herself.
Prison Industrial Complex
Shelia Pinkel has been making art with political themes since the 60's. In
this exhibit Shelia directs her practice at the cancerous growth of the
prison system especially here in California. She speaks to the high rate of
incarceration of people of color. She addresses the Prison Industrial
Authority. PIA is a system in which prisoners receive far less than minimum
wage to manufacture a spectrum of things. This system is of special interest
to labor unions which are concerned with workers rights and unfair labor
competition.
Heroina
Alex Donis who describes himself as a queer artist and a feminist is also
Hispanic. Previously Alex has dealt with race and homophobia in his highly
controversial paintings that have the LAPD and gangs dancing together. In
Nexus he uses art history to pay tribute to contemporary art-world woman who
have influenced and inspired him. By cutting out the extraneous background
and focusing on the iconic pose and by substituting his woman of inspiration
for the male and white subjects of history he presents a critique of race,
gender and class that is witty and very humorous.
The Liquid Cemetery
Abdelali Dahrouch is a conceptual media artist who lives in Los Angeles, and
works between the U.S., France, and Morocco. Born in Tangier, and raised
between Morocco and France, Dahrouch emigrated to the U.S. in 1984 to pursue
multimedia art as a vehicle to address the political and social issues in
which he was immersed as an activist and writer. His work engages
transnational migration and U.S./European imperialism largely in relation to
the Middle East and North Africa. The video installation created
specifically for this exhibition "The Liquid Cemetery" addresses Europe's
methods for controlling the flow of immigrant labor from the south and the
tragic loss of life in the Strait of Gibraltar. The work echoes the same
conditions of America's southern border and reveals the global
interconnectedness of these issues.
Patrick Merrill
Cal Poly Pomona, W. Keith & Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery
3801 W. Temple Ave., Pomona 91768