ACCIDENT BLACKSPOT Curated by Jim Lee and Rob Nadeau
Featuring Ivin Ballen, Rob Erickson, Keltie Ferris, Chris Hanson and Hendrika Sonnenberg, Joseph Hart, Himi Van Drecks, Fawn Krieger, Ree Morton, Ian Pedigo, Daniel Seiple, Ali Smith, Wendy White and Tamara Zahaykevich
July 23 - August 15, 2008 | Reception: Wednesday, July 23, 6 – 8 pm
Freight + Volume is pleased to announce the exhibition Accident Blackspot featuring a group of artists that work with highly personal and idiosyncratic languages to proffer a challenge to contemporary mainstream aesthetics. The title, drawn from the cult-classic "Withnail and I," refers to the road sign used to designate the scene of an accident on British roadways. And it is an apt metaphor for the work shown here, which cogently choreographs a collision between the orchestrated and the unintended.
Working in a mode that has gained momentum in the last few years, these artists offer a jury rigged aesthetic approach with an emphasis on process and materiality, a conscious disregard for resolution or "finish" in the traditional sense, a slight hint of humor, and a flirtation with near constant failure. It is a scumbled and infected formalism, a congress of flotsam, teetering on the brink of self-destruction. It's about taking chances, engaging in a desperate, yet somehow casual, search for meaning. This is the kind of work you've always wanted to make: unmediated and unpretentious, as if you are in your room, your world, listening to Brian Wilson's "In My Room", dreaming of possibilities and creating your own charged scene worthy of an Accident Blackspot.
