American exhibition up and running
Just finished putting a show up at East Carolina University entitled American with Wafaa Bilal, Annie Hogan, Marylin Forbes, Nathan Brines and myself. Here’s Annie’s show poster and a video screenshot from Wafaa’s video -which will serve as an additional postcard.
Annie’s postcard… which I ended up making into a 30″x40″ screenprint for promotion. I think we’re still waiting to hear back from the copyright owner, whoops.
Wafaa’s postcard
This is an excerpt of Marilyn Forbes painting in progress. Full video is about 20 minutes and shown in conjunction with the prints, mop and bucket.
This shows a really interesting moment when Marilyn first started painting… she had never done something like this before and needed a little direction. Wafaa would tell her what to do but only for the first few prints, after which Marilyn took total control. We would place the print down and she’d go at it, referencing her home life in one and her boyfriend at the time in another, SPLAT!
Annie, Wafaa and I had many conversations about our role as artists and Marilyns as custodial staff; there was a shifting of power involved here for certain. This is seen when Wafaa and I clean the area towards the video’s end.
A further exploration into power shift is being explored by Michael Webster and I. As a part of a relational-art piece, we’re proposing to switch places with the maintenance workers who cut Steve Ballard’s (Chancellor of East Carolina University) grass every week. The project would consist of Michael and I cutting the grass, sweeping, bagging, etc. while the maintenance crew films and photographs us. We’d also be interested in documenting the bureaucratic steps involved…. this is where it gets relational. *See Relational Art
