nANCY BAKER, BILL GUSKY, Leslie Kneisel, TIM RIPLEY: Detonate: Chaos and Consumerism
February 2 - February 25, 2012SELECTED WORKS
Denise Bibro Fine Art is pleased to announce Detonate: Chaos and Consumerism, February 2 through February 25, 2012, with an opening reception on February 2 from 6 to 8PM. The exhibition features artists Nancy Baker, Carol Es, Bill Gusky, Leslie Kneisel, Tim Ripley and Oriane Stender. Economic and cultural turmoil are the impetus of each artist’s works, creating unique dialogues in various mediums and styles, sparking conversations that seem inescapable.
Nancy Baker’s works explode and swirl with objects of industry, as though an eruption has just occurred resulting in disjointed chaos. Baker’s works include glitter and pop culture iconography as well as fetishized grenades. Full of angst and energy, Baker’s work is anything but introverted.
Having grown up in what the artist describes as the sweatshops of the Los Angeles apparel industry; Carol Es’ work evokes a dialogue between the overtly commercial and the deeply personal. Her textured works weave dysfunctional family values with industrial objects, accented by her inclusion of embroidery.
Bill Gusky projects TV cartoons from the 1960’s and 1970’s, reworks the images, re-appropriating these nostalgic objects to create a new dialogue or history, finding new meaning in the present. Commenting on the “technology will save us” mentality of that era, Gusky’s work makes us wonder, in our present technological culture, what now?
Leslie Kneisel’s otherworldly images move from past to present to future, taken of retro-looking rides in a visit to Disneyland. These alien-like images tempt us far away from everyday life, looking for an escape from reality.
Tim Ripley’s icons are specific, particular and deftly painted. These isolated objects are oddly familiar, evoking the starkness of certain commercial advertisements.
In a nod to minimalism, Oriane Stender’s painted dollar bills break down the complex. Her elegant works diverge from the explosive, the excess of consumerism, and meditate on the singular, pared down object; reminding us of the downsizing that many have had to accept.