Analogue

June 10th-July 22nd

Opening Reception from 6-9pm on June 10th

Analogue brings to the forefront the concept that contemporary culture is perceived through a discontinuous series of analogies rather than a linear narrative. Finding in the commercial landscape a language of representation and reference, the five artists in Analogue make use of common cultural material—consumer goods inverted, remade and expanded upon; survival recast as a particular set of products; the infuriating experience of waiting for YouTube to load given physical presence.

Analogue is presented with support from the Missouri Arts Council (MAC) and the Regional Arts Commission (RAC).

About the Artists

Ethan Greenbaum is a New York-based artist and curator known for his sculptural approach to commercial architecture, construction materials and urban environments. Greenbaum, a 2005 Yale MFA graduate, utilizes  materials such as Formica, acrylic, and vacuum-formed plastic that fill the urban landscape, yet resist function when presented in a gallery setting. Greenbaum modifies these cultural blank spots via a range of material gestures that  open them to new associative possibilities. Greenbaum has exhibited widely, including exhibitions at The Suburban (Chicago), Marlborough Gallery (New York) and Circus Gallery (Los Angeles). He is also an editor at The Highlights, an online archive of artists text projects.

Caleb Larsen is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and currently lives and works in Mexico. Larsen’s diverse studio practice incorporates installations, prints, drawings, sculpture and computer programs. Much of his work centers on the parallels between the financial footprints of artistic practice and commercial production, tracking abstract quantities such as the value of art, time and forcing the viewer into placing a value on the work through online auctions and other means. One Person, Three Days – Survival Kit presents a complete range of products as means for survival, stripping a person’s life down to a series of commercial needs. Larsen’s work has been discussed in Beautiful/Decay, The Seattle Times and Rhizome.

Helmut Smits is an acclaimed conceptual artist based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands who takes cultural detritus and reimagines it as satirical sculptures. Utilizing found objects, Smits draws attention to themes of consumption, excess and waste with a contemporary, pop sensibility. Recurring motifs of McDonalds, Coca-Cola and Disney embrace an American sheen while constructing visual puns that are both accessible and humorous. Smits has exhibited widely internationally at museums such as Palais de Tokyo (Paris) and the International Design Biennial. This will be his second exhibition in the US.

 

Zoe Sheehan Saldana’s work examines such notions as the shifting value of the handmade in art, the dynamic between low and high art forms, the imperfect and often additive nature of copying and reproduction, and the multiple roles of the audience in the art experience. Saldana is best known for her handmade, functional reproductions of commercial items in which she exchanges mass-produced items with exact replicas, positing questions about the nature of craft and authenticity. Zoe Sheehan Saldana has exhibited at PS1/MOMA, Steve Turner Contemporary and Exit Art. Her work has been discussed in Artforum, The New York Times and Fiber Arts.

Ryan Thayer utilizes a minimalist palette of industrial objects from shopping centers, office spaces and product displays that have been reconfigured, simplified or abstracted. In my building has every convenience, commercial shopping carts have been combined with a volume of space that fills, and extends, the contours of the shopping basket.  This incomplete volume is made of drywall and remains open on one side. These ubiquitous drywall volumes are characterized by a blank white surface that moves seamlessly from interior to exterior, volumes that entirely fill each shopping cart but in turn are filled with nothing.  They are a fragment of immense networks, combining consumer objects with elements of minimalism, seriality, and subjectivity. Ryan Thayer is an artist currently based in St. Louis making conceptually driven large-scale sculptures and photographs.  Ryan Thayer received his MFA from California College of the Arts in 2006 and has studied in London and Berkeley.  His work has been exhibited at venues throughout Europe and the US including; Southern Exposure (CA), Skydive (TX), Gallerie Box (SE), Koh-i-noor (DK), Unten Drunter (SE) and NOMA Gallery (CA).