-
Reading the Signs and Staring at Screens
Joan Linder, T. Kelly Mason, David Risley, Dread Scott -
Joan Linder
Joan Linder's drawings and sculptures of quotidian subjects find inspiration from her immediate surroundings. Her new artist book Zoom contains drawings that she started at the beginning of quarantine, documenting her working life as a university administrator. Many of the drawings originated as quick sketches, created in real time during the artist's meetings. Linder's images of Zoom calls are instantly recognizable, having become a regular part of social and professional life this year. With Covid-19 rates of infections rising in the USA, this mode of experiencing the world does not appear to be changing any time soon.
-
-
T. Kelly Mason
T. Kelly Mason was at the forefront of the domestic Conceptualism that emerged in Los Angeles in the 1990s. Earlier this year, Mason began work on a group of drawings of storefronts, city streets and signage for an animation sequence. Taking inspiration from neon cocktail lounge signs and continuing his D.I.Y. exploration of cinema genres and tones, these three videos are about movement in and around a downtown of the imagination through dark hallunications in the tones of pandemic film noir. Dark and nearly airless, they form studies of pan and scan poetry, miniature special effects and cinematic pop music, lingering on the feelings generated by a day's tension.
-
David Risley
David Risley is a painter, writer and curator who is currently in the process of developing a sustainability project for public-facing institutions. His three new paintings, Death on the Beach, Einer Home Schooling, and Pope Preaching to an Empty Square, Vatican City, Rome, depict some of the new realities we have had to adjust to this year. Death on the Beach shows Daniel Uhlfelder, a Florida lawyer who visited several of his state's beaches dressed as the Grim Reaper to protest their reopening this summer. Einer Home Schooling captures the artist's son on his bed attending school remotely--a measure that many parents are still, months later, having to follow. Perhaps the most eerie is Pope Preaching to an Empty Square, Vatican City, Rome. In March, more than 11 million viewers tuned in to watch the Pope give a blessing to an empty St. Peter's Square, as the numbers of Covid-related deaths in Italy skyrocketed and the country was under lockdown.
-
Dread Scott
Dread Scott makes revolutionary art to propel history forward. The artist's letterpress prints echo many of the slogans and signs seen at different protests and rallies over the past few years, both in content and form. Bright neon colors highlight sober messages such as "Stop White on Black Crime" and "It is Happening Here and It is Up to Us to Stop It." Although November 3rd has passed, the deep-rooted history of oppression in the United States has not disappeared and the appeals of Scott's prints still ring true. In point of fact, the events of 2020 have underscored the great amount of work yet to be done for true equality.
Past viewing_room