PAPER POLITICS

Organized by Josh MacPhee
September 4th -November 6th 2008

Dowd Fine Art Gallery is proud to present Paper Politics, an important international survey of recent politically motivated printmaking that includes over 200 handmade prints.

Paper Politics offers the public a comprehensive view of artists’ responses to a wide variety of recent political situations and circumstances, from local city politics to national policy to international ‘interventions’. “Although some issues take center stage, it is truly impressive just how many issues the artists are attempting to address. Sexual identity and liberation, voting, patriotism, colonialism, protest, liberation of public space, death, homeland security, imperialism, armed struggle, child abuse, globalization and healthcare all get their turn” says Josh MacPhee, curator.

While all the artists selected for the exhibition employ an individual approach to the use of the media, techniques, form and content each holds in common the will to make politically engaged art. It is through this thread that the viewer may access the struggle to balance the competing impetuses of artist and activist amongst many of the artists included in the exhibit.

Andrew Mount, Dowd Gallery Director comments upon this point that “Often, artists find it hard to reconcile a deep political motive because in the art world that content ends up seeming either too non-secular, or dated to be of constant interest, when compared to say narration in video or painting. That’s why its interesting that a lot of the work in this show, most notably the stencil pieces, is made without the gallery in mind, which in itself become a form of activism and places the gallery outside the realm of political relevancy. This is an important point for us to consider in
relation to the use of the gallery space.”

Artists’ talk October 28th 2008, time to be announced.

Purple States

September 4th -November 6th 2008

Dowd Fine Art Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition Purple States by CarianaCarianne.

Download Purple States Poster

Since the 2004 U.S. presidential election, the status of a ‘divided nation’ or ‘two Americas’ has been the overarching buzz phrase in the media. This terminology refers to two types of citizens within the United States of America, those who either support the Republican Party (Red States) or champion the Democratic Party (Blue States). However predominant this difference may seem, Purple States suggests that all states are ‘purple’ to varying degrees, and that the red versus blue division is not an accurate description of U.S. culture. Consequently, Purple States evokes a sense of unity by suggesting a new reading of the people that comprise the United States of America.

Capturing the energy of the upcoming 2008 U.S. presidential election, Purple States is a participatory project that links museums and galleries to their surrounding communities. Purple States is made specifically for Dowd Fine Art Gallery and the Cortland community. CarianaCarianne is currently working with galleries and museums from Kansas to Illinois, to Texas, to New York, as satellite locations that will allow Purple States to take place in locations across the U.S. – all at the same time.

The multisite nature of the project emphasizes the vitality and diversity of the people that comprise the United States of America. Although similar in format across locations, each site is unique in that the informational hubs will be developed by and with the people it engages. The key component of these installation hubs is the accessible nature of visual material anchored in an ‘open door ‘policy. All community members will, regardless of their affiliation, have access to the hub, be able to hold community meetings, and be allowed to explore the moral and political implications of their community’s interest. In this sense, each informational hub explores the diverse people that create the current political landscape in the United States of America.

Artists’ talk October 16th 2008, time to be announced.

Purple States will be exhibited in diffferrent forms at varying scales, within several locations across the country - check this page and CarianaCarianne's site for updates.