Artist, China Adams’ first curatorial project is composed of two parts, The Loop Show and The Small Loop Show. The pair of shows bring together a group of artists whose work collectively presents a vision of the art object as something rich and vibrant born of cast off materials, the things we are leaving behind. The exhibition features sculpture, painting, video and collage by Miyoshi Barosh, Thomas Deininger, Christian Cummings, Amy Drezner, Mark Dutcher, Doug Harvey, Anne Hieronymus, Elisabeth Higgins O’Connor, Robert Larson, John Luckett, Nuttaphol Ma, Stephen McCabe, William Ransom, Dustin Shuler, Don Suggs, Ann Weber, Christine Wertheim, Alexis Zoto, The Institute For Figuring, and China Adams. The Small Loop Show is the second half of a pair of exhibitions that focus on artists who have an established, working relationship with reused materials. While the first Loop Show featured large-scale works, The Small Loop Show features the work of the same artists, at a small-scale.
The Small Loop Show is framed by contemplation on the problems of excess and material waste: In our culture, where unfixable appliances, outdated 3 year-old computers, and throw-aways of all types are the norm, it is hard to deny that we have become disconnected with the idea that material of all kinds, whether plastic, rubber, cotton, aluminum, or gold is fundamentally valuable. Woven into this loss of respect for material, is an even more systemic loss of respect for the basic tradition of human, physical labor.
Artists, however, typically have an intimate relationship with materials, one that perhaps more than others, honors the preciousness of material. Given this, it seems likely that a movement towards reversing our faulty relationship vis-a-vie people and their materials might start among artists.
In fact, there is a wave of such artists concerning themselves with this very issue of reusing materials to create their art. A great, emerging group of artists who have begun seriously addressing the issue of waste, reuse, and the inherent impossibility of continued expansion and growth (of brand new, raw material), both on a global level and in one’s own studio.
The Small Loop Show highlights artists working this way; artists who are exploring and addressing our “material problem.”
