Domestic Archeology: Boston and Beyond
Christine Temin Boston Globe review:
defines a new approach to the Boston area artists' exhibition - a quarter-century tradition at The Rose Art Museum. In this inaugural presentation, The Rose will exhibit the work of New England artists alongside international colleagues who address related ideas in contemporary art. The exhibition, curated by Raphaela Platow, opens Thursday, Jan. 22, and runs through Sunday, March 28, at the Lois Foster Wing. The opening reception will be held Wednesday, Jan. 21, 6-9 p.m.
Domestic Archeology will showcase mixed media installations, videos, drawings, and photographs by Boston artists Davis Bliss, Douglas Weathersby, Edythe Wright; New York artist Haim Steinbach; and German artist Karsten Bott. The theme of the exhibition will center on the artist as archeologist, archivist, and cultural sociologist taking apart everyday things and transforming them into art.
Drawing on the vocabulary of scientific inquiry, the artists reveal the psychological and sociological dynamics of the commonplace. Often employing a parody of the museum presentation, the artists reflect on the abject and banal as a mirror of our untold history, eschewing standard points of reference for meaning and knowledge. Not only concerned with the object per se but people's relationship with them, the artists uncover the meanings things take on when they are possessed and personalized. Exploring the boundaries between art and domesticity, their work provokes dialogue around public presentation and domestic spaces, recognizing these sites as places of ideological collision. The exhibition comprises four large-scale multi media installations (Bott, Steinbach, Weathersby, Wright), and three sculptures by Davis Bliss, most of which will be created specifically for The Rose (for more information on the artists and their work, see the enclosed brochure text).