Empowerpoint
Empowerpoint
September 2nd, 2016 -
September 29th, 2016
Empowerpoint is a group exhibition curated by Jessica Lynne and Taylor Renee of ARTS.BLACK that depicts the way humor is used by artists as a form of social critique, presenting media that transforms disparity into common euphemisms and entertaining anecdotes.
Opening Reception:
September 2nd from 7 - 10pm
Empowerpoint depicts the way humor is used by artists as a form of social critique, with a specific focus on new media, video, and digital art.
Often, humor serves as a way to address the pain(s) that result from societal inequities. In communities of color, there is a particularly long history of artists, entertainers, and public figures using humor as a device to address the politics of intersecting oppressions. We need only look to the career of notable stand-up comedians such as Richard Pryor, Dave Chapelle, George Lopez, Bernie Mac, Mike Epps or, more contemporaneously, Jessica Williams, Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, or Hannibal Buress as examples.
Visual artists have long used the comedic as a material, engaging humor as a methodology for making, reflecting, and responding. Empowerpoint, then, depicts the way humor is used by artists as a form of social critique, with a specific focus on new media, video, and digital art. This exhibition features the work of several St. Louis based artists and national artists whose practices lay at the intersection of satire and visual culture. From the meme-style images created by Lyndon Barrois, which repurpose stills from Beverly Hills Cop, to the “techno utopian” yet “dysfunctional” video game created by artist duo Simone and Max in response to global climate change. Empowerpoint aims to serve simultaneously as comic relief and a site of critical commentary in which visitors can confront their own stances on the myriad of issues we must confront as a global community. Artists featured in the exhibition include Lyndon Barrois Jr., Simone and Max, Sophia Cordova, Soheila Azadi and Liz Cambron, Marcellus Armstrong, and WORK/PLAY.
The Luminary's exhibitions are supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Regional Arts Commission, Missouri Arts Council - a state agency, and our members.