February 19th-March 13th, 2010
What do six of Phoenix’s leading artists have to offer? Jon Haddock, Randy Slack, Sue Chenoweth, Dominic Miller, Jen Urso, and Karolina Sussland present new and recent work seen in Phoenix for the first time.
By combining the individual work of each artist, Modified Arts provides a snapshot of contemporary Phoenix. Each artist is poised to expand their practice beyond Phoenix and achieve national recognition. Many are already well known locally, and some, like Jon Haddock, have been active nationally with exhibitions at institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art. Haddock’s series Vintage Mouse Porn, recently returned to Phoenix from it’s premier at Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center in Buffalo, New York. The work examines sexuality, pornography, and desire by utilizing the simple-seeming device of cartoon mice to recreate images from pre-1970s pornography. By utilizing a medium often associated with children and PG themes, the unexpected depictions draw attention to actions to which we have become desensitized, and reintroduces the harsh reality of the subject.
Dominic Miller, a Phoenix native and relative newcomer to the local art scene, creates ink drawings, pierced by hand, to create elaborate patterns exploring rhythm and interval.
Randy Slack continues his investigations of sexuality in America with paintings that study the idealized interpretation of women in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s.
A new suite of wintertime images, printed by Sue Chenoweth, reflects her imaginings about adventure and travel before and after an experience. She will also explore this topic in a solo installation at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art during summer 2010.
Jen Urso presents a large-scale drawing that she will work on a little bit each day before, during and after the exhibition. Issues of deliberation, progress, and process are present in the work, which will include daily photos documenting the evolution of the project and time-lapse video.
Lastly, Karolina Sussland explores perfection and pretense with large scale white sunsets, painted in the foreground with interference gold.
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