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28/1/2000

David Byrne

Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati

Advertising imagery can be quite potent. Artist David Byrne understands the often deceptive subtleties of media. At the Contemporary Arts Center, large-scale, backlit photographs from Byrne's Better Living Through Chemistry series depict tranquil scenes overlaid with self-actualization slogans and images of drug paraphernalia. The Stairway to Heaven series portrays various international currencies intertwined with weapons. Both series ironically combine mainstream ideals with common modern vices.

Offering an audio tour of the photos, a headset provides a unique soundtrack to the exhibit. The sound piece, titled Your Action World, is described by The New York Times as "an insinuating mix of self-actualization blather, corporate sloganeering, New Age fantasy and inspirational music." Through the use of these two mediums - photography and sound - Byrne has produced a wry critique of mass media and today's culture.

Having studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Maryland Institute College of Art in the 1970s, Byrne did not begin to exhibit until the 1990s; now his work is shown in galleries all over the world.
He is best known as the musician who co-founded the influential rock band the Talking Heads (1976-88). Like his music, Byrne's photographic and sound installations combine layers of text and spoken word, as well as imagery, culled from popular sources. Both his music and visual art prompt viewers and listeners to look at the world from a new perspective.

The exhibition is organized by the Contemporary Arts Center.

Hours
Monday-Saturday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sunday: Noon - 5 p.m.

Contemporary Arts Center
115 E. Fifth Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
Phone (513) 345-8400
Fax (513) 721-7418

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