2014
installation with sculptures and works on paper commissioned for Re/Presenting HIV/AIDS
Van Every/Smith Galleries
Davidson, NC
August 25, 2014— October 05, 2014
Curators: Ann M. Fox, David R. Wessner, Lia Newman, Rosemary Gardner
Artists: Robert Farber, Keith Haring, Mike Hoolboom, Shan Kelley, Andrew McPhail, Frank Moore, Robert Sherer, Laura Splan, Carl Tandatnick, Frederick Weston, Jessica Whitbread, Albert J. Winn
SCULPTURES
hand-built unglazed porcelain ceramics, 3D-printed laser-sintered polyamide nylon stained with blood
Potpourri, 36 H × 14 W × 14 D in (91.44 H × 35.56 W × 35.56 D cm) (sculpture with pedestal)
Draped, 27 H × 18 W × 7 D in (68.58 H × 45.72 W × 17.78 D cm)
Encoded, 15 H × 39 W × 12 D in (38.1 H × 99 W × 30.48 D cm)
Curtain, 24 H × 12 W × 7 D in (60.96 H × 30.48 W × 17.78 D cm)
Exhale, 8 H × 30 W × 12 D in (20.32 H × 76.2 W × 30.48 D cm)
WORKS ON PAPER
graphite, blood on archival watercolor paper
Thin Veil, installed set: 70 W × 46 H in (1.78 W × 1.17 H m) / prints: 22 W × 22 H in (55.88 W × 55.88 H cm) each print
Host is a multimedia installation with sculptures and works on paper commissioned for the Re/Presenting HIV/AIDS exhibition exploring visual representations of HIV/AIDS from science and art perspectives. Porcelain ceramic forms, 3D-printed sculptures stained with blood, and works on paper explore personal memories and cultural reflections on hospitality and domesticity as they collided with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Host attempts to materialize experiences of coming to consciousness about HIV and AIDS while coming of age in the 1980’s in the suburban South. The sculptures and works on paper embody a desire to resolve fears of the emerging health pandemic with notions of “Southern hospitality” and the “gracious home”. The work draws on personal memories of AIDS arriving as an unexpected guest at our quaint home and quietly announcing itself in hollowed cheekbones, sunken eyes and Kaposi lesions. The sculptures and works on paper interrogate notions of hospitality and domesticity as they are undermined by biological realities and a changing sociopolitical landscape. Doily forms obscure underlying renderings in the works on paper by using vintage plastic doilies as stencils. Referencing the domestic use of doilies to hide a scratch or stain on furniture, the drawings create a tableau of biomedical images that are camouflaged by the decorative doily form. The sculptures combine delicate porcelain forms with more rigid 3D-printed elements stained with blood. The objects simultaneously evoke the fragility of the human body with the tenuous nature of social decorum. Biomedical forms are at odds with more decorative ones. Visceral drips disrupt lacy patterns. Discomfort disrupts comfort.
Host is a multimedia installation with sculptures and works on paper commissioned for the Re/Presenting HIV/AIDS exhibition exploring visual representations of HIV/AIDS from science and art perspectives. Porcelain ceramic forms, 3D-printed sculptures stained with blood, and works on paper explore personal memories and cultural reflections on hospitality and domesticity as they collided with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Host attempts to materialize experiences of coming to consciousness about HIV and AIDS while coming of age in the 1980’s in the suburban South. The sculptures and works on paper embody a desire to resolve fears of the emerging health pandemic with notions of “Southern hospitality” and the “gracious home”. The work draws on personal memories of AIDS arriving as an unexpected guest at our quaint home and quietly announcing itself in hollowed cheekbones, sunken eyes and Kaposi lesions. The sculptures and works on paper interrogate notions of hospitality and domesticity as they are undermined by biological realities and a changing sociopolitical landscape. Doily forms obscure underlying renderings in the works on paper by using vintage plastic doilies as stencils. Referencing the domestic use of doilies to hide a scratch or stain on furniture, the drawings create a tableau of biomedical images that are camouflaged by the decorative doily form. The sculptures combine delicate porcelain forms with more rigid 3D-printed elements stained with blood. The objects simultaneously evoke the fragility of the human body with the tenuous nature of social decorum. Biomedical forms are at odds with more decorative ones. Visceral drips disrupt lacy patterns. Discomfort disrupts comfort.
Re/Presenting HIV/AIDS + International AIDS Posters
Opening Reception: September 4, 2014, 6:00 pm— 8:00 pm
A short gallery talk with artists Shan Kelley, Robert Sherer, and Jessica Whitbread, as well as Nelson Santos of Visual AIDS. Van Every Gallery, Belk Visual Arts Center.
September 3, 2014, 7:00 pm—8:30 pm
Nelson Santos, Executive Director of Visual AIDS, will give a public lecture on curating the art of HIV/AIDS.
September 10, 2014, 7:00 pm—9:00 pm
A documentary about the history of ACT UP.
September 17, 2014, 12:00 pm—3:00 pm
Sponsored by Mecklenburg County Health Department
September 20, 2014, 7:00 pm—9:00 pm
A devised theatre piece with Davidson College students under the direction of Joan Lipkin, Bacca Artist-in-Residence.
September 24, 2014, 7:00 pm—8:30 pm
Dr. Sallie Permar ’97, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Associate Professor of Immunology, and Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University Medical Center, will give a public lecture about her research on mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
October 1, 2014, 7:00 pm—9:00 pm
A documentary about the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Washington, D.C.
Co-curated by Ann M. Fox (Professor of English), David R. Wessner (Professor of Biology), Lia Newman (Gallery Director/Curator), and Rosemary Gardner (Gallery Assistant Curator), the works of art in Re/Presenting HIV/AIDS examine the visual representations of HIV/AIDS from science and art perspectives. The exhibition features 12 artists and a variety of media. Artists: Robert Farber, Keith Haring, Mike Hoolboom, Shan Kelley, Andrew McPhail, Frank Moore, Robert Sherer, Laura Splan, Carl Tandatnick, Frederick Weston, Jessica Whitbread, and Albert J. Winn.
The Smith Gallery features a continuation of Re/Presenting HIV/AIDS with a selection of HIV/AIDS related posters on loan from the The Wolfsonian – Florida International University, Miami Beach, Florida, Gift of Henry S. Hacker & Family.
...Laura Splan plays with subtlety and domesticity in order to make the body and its biology more approachable. Similar to Eva Hesse in her gentle approach, though more like Louise Bourgeois and Kiki Smith with her graphic references, Splan works to ease her audience members into a challenging discomfort...
Project support provided by Van Every/Smith Galleries, Williamsburg Ceramic Center
Exhibition, programming, and publication for "Re/Presenting HIV/AIDS" at Van Every/Smith Galleries were generously supported by the Herb Jackson and Laura Grosch Gallery Endowment, Davidson College Innovation Grant, Friends of the Arts, Public Lecture Committee, Biology Department, English Department, Gender Studies, The Health Education Center, Medical Humanities, Communication Studies, and the McColl Center for Art + Innovation.
Art documentation by David Ramsey
