While it is included on our First Friday Guide, we thought Rebus Works’ show Pro/Con was worth highlighting. The politically themed art show is seasonally appropriate and diverse in the forms of political expression it showcases. One of the most exciting parts of the show is work by Combat Paper a project where Iraq War vets use their uniforms to make paper and then create works with that paper reflecting on the war experience.
Joe Grant - Kim Jong-il
Full Release Follows
From glass busts of Barack Obama and silkscreened pillows featuring Sarah Palin’s iconic glasses, to printmaking by Iraq war veterans, and a handmade book exploring how war interrupts lives, Pro/Con explores the presidential election and the issues which inform it. Questioning or commenting on the political landscape, each artist uses a traditional craft medium like glass, bookmaking, papermaking, or fibers. These hand-made objects ground the uncertainty of the political season—providing tangible insight into the way we interpret war, domestic issues, and the media thatsurrounds it all.
Lauren Frances Adams presents appropriated decorative pillows that specifically deal with the vice-presidential candidacy of Sarah Palin. Utilizing visual humor, Adams recalls typical domestic situations to explore political vacillations and “permeability of red versus blue mentality.” Adams is particularly interested in presenting situations that examine “American consumerism, nationalist military defense, and political identity.” An assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Adams received her M.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University, her B.F.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts. She has exhibited locally at Artspace (Looking Back, June 2008), the North Carolina Museum of Art (Crosscurrents, 2006), and extensively throughout the country.
Lesley Patterson-Marx is exhibiting Interrupted, a hand-printed book which explores the ways in which lives are interrupted by war. Utilizing the kinetic structure of the book, Patterson-Marx combines photographs by Fred Clarke, map imagery, and texts in English, Urdu, Somali, and Serbo-Croation. To present the far-reaching and cross-cultural effects of war, Patterson-Marx integrates nature imagery to connect the disparate ways each life is affected. Patterson-Marx received her M.F.A. from the Unversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her B.F.A. from Murray State University (Murray, KY). She is an instructor in the high school art program of the University School of Nashville, Tennessee. Patterson-Marx has exhibited extensively throughout Tennessee and Kentucky, and has had two solo exhibitions at Rebus Works.
Joe Grant is exhibiting glass busts of Barack Obama and Kim Jong-il. Grant is interested in exploring the triadic relationship between people, politics, and art. Working primarily in portrait sculpture, he seeks to investigate character and culture through his art. Grant received his M.F.A. from Viriginia Commonwealth University, and his B.F.A. from the University of Illinois at Champlain-Urbana. A recent recipient of a North Carolina Arts Council fellowship, he has had assistantships at Pilchuck Glass School and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Grant lives and works in the mountains of North Carolina.
Combat Paper is a collective project based in Burlington, Vermont. Created as a vehicle for returning Iraq war veterans to reconcile their experiences through art, veterans involved in this project use their uniforms to make paper. This hand-made paper is then incorporated into prints based on their experiences. Contributing artists for Pro/Con are Drew Cameron, who served in the Army and is the director of the Green Door Studio, which is home to Combat Paper and Jon Michael Turner, who served in the Marine Corps in Haiti, Fallujah and Ramadi. These pieces provide a first-hand look into the effects of war, and the experience of those who have served.
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