Ours is a culture defined by marketing and consumption, by shopping malls as community meeting places and media saturated with product advertising. Even one of our founding fathers—Thomas Jefferson—was a compulsive shopper. Is this part of the American Way? Our lives are bracketed with purchases, from bassinets to caskets. Our visual landscape is studded with logos, brand names and billboards—inducements to acquire commodities. Branded and On Display examines the work of artists who explore the strategies of branding and retail presentation as they respond, with both humor and criticism, to the pervasive marketing that colors our lives and leisure time. The exhibition urges us to "re-view" consumer culture with an appraising eye and increased awareness.
Included are works by Conrad Bakker, Zhao Bandi, Amy Barkow, Ashley Bickerton, Michael Blum, Louis Cameron, Diller + Scofidio, Terence Gower, Laurie Hogin, Clay Ketter, Donna Nield, Ryan McGinness, Amelia Moore, Phillipe Parreno/ Pierre Huyghe, Haim Steinbach, Tempi & Wolf, Yuken Teruya, Hank Willis Thomas, Brian Ulrich, Siebren Versteeg, Andy Warhol. These artists lead us to look at how frequently we are scanned each day and at how advertising and display strategies shape our thinking, our impulses and our desires.
Organized by Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and sponsored in part by Fox Development Corporation, Krannert Art Museum Director’s Circle Fund and Hampton Inn. |
Hank Willis Thomas, Branded Head, 2003, digital C-print mounted to Plexiglass. 96 x 60 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman, New York, © Hank Willis Thomas.
June 14, 2008-
September 21, 2008
Galleries 3 and 4, SMoCA |
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