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Re:Play brings together the work of
five artists who depict toys, cartoon characters, and childhood
fantasies in their work. Proposing that the creative process
is based in our most primal forms of play and imagination,
the artists make up their own rules and trust their instincts.
Toys allow children the ability to act out their fantasies,
to become someone else, or travel to a different place and
time. As adults, we have the ability to exploit the many
complexities associated with toys or our intimate childhood
experiences with them.
Christopher
Deris builds machines that invite play and
that act as surrogates for the artist. Through his drawing
and sculpture these objects become surreal manifestations
of basic human needs, simplified to the cause and effect
of a few mechanical movements.
In using childhood imagery
such as super heroes, toys, and ray guns Craig
Hill creates paintings and sculptures that
revolve around issues of masculinity and male rites of passage.
His works are often satirical and play upon the traditions
of abstract, optical, and minimal painting. Challenged by
the ideas of icons from both his childhood and adult life,
Hill establishes a subversive vision of maleness.
Randa
Newland’s mixed media works use toys
and other found materials to establish a narrative that
poses a delicate mixture of surprise and irony. She presents
tiny views of an imaginary microcosm to share her personal
views of the mysteries and complexities of the human condition.
Through her sculptures and
mixed media works, Mary Ellen O’Meara
makes reference to feminine and domestic rituals and incorporates
traditional “craft” techniques. O’Meara
comments on relationships, gender roles and how these established
environments shape our personalities. Her works play as
a social critique of gender specific toys and point to a
child’s imagination and fantasy of adult life.
In the work of Duane
Slick, toys, masks, figures and faces are
culturally encoded. Slick who is Native American is a member
of the Sac and Fox Nation of Iowa. His monochrome white
paintings construct intricate narratives where the shadows
of culturally specific toys; a mythological Navajo wolf
dancer and coyote mask, appear to clash with the shadows
of toy robots amidst landscapes of corporate logos and trademarks;
a provocative allegory for the tension between spirituality
and global commercialism.
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