The work selected for this exhibition hesitates towards a technology-driven frenetic future, addresses feelings of isolation and makes transparent the nature of shifting meanings through context/positioning. The exhibition title, “Are Friends Electric?” Is taken from Gary Numan’s iconic song, whose lyrics verge on fear of loneliness amid the appearance of friendly entities. In reflection of our truly complicated relationship with what it means to be “social” today, artists continue to forge, perhaps even more fastidiously now, personal identities in their practices despite the reality of shrinking “private” and [truly] “public” spaces. New forms of “social spaces” allow for one kind of collectivity, but marginalize a more analog communion between individuals. Laden with aesthetic self-identifiers, each work serves as a beacon for the thoughts, ideals, and intuitions of the artist. When this work is brought together, what new meanings take place? In collectivity, can anxiety about the future be temporarily subsided, helpfully articulated or possibly – exacerbated? Seen as a synecdoche, Are Friends Electric? focuses both on each individual artist as well as the collective formation of both exhibitions. The exhibitions seek to create a dialogue through a theatrically staged installation of video, photography, painting and sculpture.
Both exhibitions present works from the same group of artists, pushing our modes of perception and ability to relate to the artists’ works.
Catalog release with text by David Pagel and accompanied by Artist Talk
