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9/4/2009

Crafting Romance

Athica - Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, Athens

Curated By Rebecca Ray Brantley & Nathanael Roesch
Assistant Curator, Amy Chicola

Featured Artist: Vadis Turner (Brooklyn, New York)

Participating Artists:
Christian Barre and Catherine Plaisance (Québec), Robert Clements (Athens, GA), Jordan Gushwa and Sarah Lauck (Bloomfield Hills, MI), Cindy Hinant (Indianapolis, IN), Wes Kline (Gainesville, FL), Sarah Laurentius (Athens, GA), Maria Lewis (Soderfors, Sweden), Mary Pearse (Athens, GA), Pam Rogers (Bethesda, MD), Annie Strader (Wichita, KS), Stephanie Voegele (Athens, GA), Jen Wall (Eugene, Oregon), and others TBA.

Love is in the air! ATHICA: Athens Institute of Contemporary Art is pleased to announce its spring exhibition, Crafting Romance, which takes on the age-old theme of love, and in particular how it is expressed through the domestic and decorative arts—traditionally thought of as separate and lesser enterprises than the fine arts, despite the legacy of over thirty years of feminist art practice. The issue of “craft” inspires a hard look at the time-honed narratives that have defined love’s boundaries, conventions and taboos, and whose origins in Western Culture are often traced to the loves and lore of Greek myth and the desire that rifted the Garden of Eden. Endlessly re-scripted, these expectations and longings permeate our stories from Romeo and Juliet to Sex and the City, and frequent the witty works by the baker’s dozen artists selected from more than 200 submissions. Crafted in a variety of media—jewelry, re-configured telephones, drawing, photography, video and more--this romantically inclined collection will encourage reflection on how we construct our identities and relationships.

At the heart of "Crafting Romance" are the conceptual-objects and installations by featured artist Vadis Turner. The Brooklyn-based artist draws attention to the ways in which contemporary women craft their own highly mediated, biologically enhanced bodies and identities: jeweled objects made from birth-control pills, false eyelashes created from slivers of her own diploma, a box of faux chocolates made out of pantyhose and cotton-balls and a pristine wedding cake sculpted out of tampons. Following suit, this exhibition includes a mix of international, regional and local artists who investigate our culture’s romance with romance, taking on everything from the public pomp and ceremony of weddings to private fetishes that makeup the spectrum of love. With “Crafting Romance,” ATHICA launches the Nurture Series of exhibitions featuring contemporary artists who address how we form personal connections, develop family and care for each other through life stages.

CURATOR BIOGRAPHIES
Rebecca Brantley teaches Art History at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, GA and writes the “Art Notes” for Athens’ Flagpole Magazine. This is the third show she has curated for ATHICA. Nathanael Roesch, fellow graduate student in Art History at the University of Georgia, joins her as a first-time curator, as does long-time ATHICA volunteer Amy Chicola, who is Assistant Curator. Both Brantley and Roesch have served as ATHICA Board members for several years.

Image: Vadis Turner, Detail of Three tiered Wedding Cake (2009), mixed media

Opening Reception: Friday, April 10, 2009, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Athica - Athens Institute of Contemporary Art
160 Tracy Street - Athens
Gallery Hours
Thursdays: 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays: 1:00 - 6:00 p.m.
and by appointment

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