Jessica Minckley

Jessica Minckley

Surrender Totem , 2013

Acrylic on vinyl

113 x 28 inches

Jessica Minckley is a Los Angeles artist, writer, curator and teacher.

Through video, performative reading, sculptural installation and discreet, painterly images, my work deals with personal agency- where and how power is activated- and its absence; resulting in hopelessness, futility, immobilization and possibly, failure. This investigation insists on representation of, or the implication of a figure, the image of a body, as a foundational element which stems from my background in observational drawing. All the while my work is undermining the means of certain forms of language to communicate toward certain clarity, relying instead on slippery visual cues to affect and evocate viewers.

This work, is one in a long series of totems for Minckley. The totem- monolithic, phallic sculpture- is of interest to Minckley for its potential spiritual properties and it’s inherent colloquialism about male hierarchy. This flag, Surrender Totem, turns the flag pole of EXO into a transient transcendental moment, and turns the obelisk into a triangle. A crotch, if you will, flapping in the Illinois breeze.

Sarah Hotchkiss, Dana Hemenway, Ramón Miranda Beltrán & Emily Baierl. Curated by Arden Sherman

a nontrip to the nonsite of a nonflagpole

Sarah Hotchkiss

Dana Hemenway

Ramón Miranda Beltrán & Emily Baierl

Curated by Arden Sherman

In artist Robert Smithson’s theory of “site nonsite dialectic,” he essentially states that one site can represent another site which it does not necessarily resemble. The site of this exhibition is a flagpole–or so it seems.

A 15-foot stainless steel pole sits at the edge of a suburban driveway at an undisclosed address in Oak Lawn, Illinois. In past years, the pole served as a place of communal activity when a basketball hoop hung from it. The basketball goal was removed and the singular pole is now used as an exhibition space called EXO Project Space. Thus, the location of this exhibition is neither a site of national identification or community, as flagpoles are commonly used, nor is it a site of leisure and is anything but a typical setting for displaying artwork. The pole is a representation of a flagpole — a “nonsite” in Smithson’s world.

Four artists have created site-specific works that underscore the fleeting and imbricated characteristics of the site: Sarah Hotchkiss’ Brick is a deflated basketball affixed to the pole as if has been pulled through a space-time continuum and magnetically drawn to the pole, only now a remnant of pole’s past purpose. Dana Hemenway’s fly flag has the look and feel of a pristine white gallery wall but lacks the essential support structure. Set outdoors and mounted like a flag, the work underscores the pole’s location and malleable identity. Ramón Miranda Beltrán and Emily Baierl’s “Help Wanted” sign is as ubiquitous as it is unique. A solicitation to viewers who might be looking for work, the sign hangs upside-down and displays the artists’ own phone numbers (with corresponding voice messages if one should call), emphasizing the pole’s outlying and unknown setting and the sign’s own futility. To encounter this nonflagpole, one would have to journey to Oak Lawn, IL and since the exact location is concealed, the exhibition lives only in an online and internet-based form and for passersby who encounter it unexpectedly. The exhibition viewing experience is merely a nontrip to the nonsite of a nonflagpole.

Daniel Glendening

Watcher
dyed silk, 2013.
62 x 20 inches

 

 

Bio:

 

Daniel J Glendening is an artist, writer and inter-disciplinary researcher based in Portland, OR. He holds an MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art and a dual BA in Art Studio and English/Creative Writing from the University of California at Davis. Glendening has published work with “Panhandler,” “Drain,” and Social Malpractice Publishing, among others. He has exhibited locally and nationally including exhibitions at Appendix Project Space, ME∑A, and Disjecta, Portland, OR; FiveMyles, Brooklyn, NY; and The LAB, San Francisco, CA. He is currently working towards upcoming projects with High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA and Eights, Portland, OR. He collects books and mystical shit.

Michael Welsh

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

It is by will alone that thoughts acquire speed, that lips acquire stains.

The stains become a warning.

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

It is by will alone that thoughts acquire speed, times acquires stains.

The stains become a warning.

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

It is by will alone that thoughts acquire speed, spaces acquires stains.

The stains become a warning.

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

Time is nothing.

Space is nothing.

Speed is everything.

The stains become a warning.

 

SPEED MAW

Fabric, tie dye, metal studs, space blanket, and hardware

Dimensions variable

2013

Michael Welsh is an interdisciplinary artist currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Welsh’s work has been shown nationally on both coasts as well as the Midwest. He publishes artist’s books on the Social Malpractice Publishing label, Portland OR and will be releasing a new book, SELF HELP in July of this year. Welsh is a frequent collaborator and one such collaboration will be featured this year at the forthcoming programing of High Desert Test Site 2013, Joshua Tree, CA.

 

www.michaelwelshstudio.com

Margaret Schirmer

                                                  (front and back view)

Margaret Schirmer
Various fabrics hand and machine sewn

21 x 30 inches

2013

In the most traditional sense, a flag’s main purpose is to represent something else.  When looking at a flag the viewer makes an immediate connection to what this something is. This instant association causes the flag’s physical qualities to become overlooked.

My goal is to bring the physicality of the flag itself back to the viewer.  This was achieved by quilting a flag composed of scrap fabric and constructed in a random, symbol-less pattern. There are no perceived relationships to anything else with this flag: strictly recognizing its components.  What are the shapes we are looking at?  The materials used? The actual construction of the flag?  These necessary components are what allow for the recognition of any flag’s true intent.

 

John Knight- Mayday, Mayday, Mayday

JohnKnightMayday      <—-PDF of sent instructions by artist John Knight

Bridget Mitchell

Won’t you be my neighbor?
2013
Vinyl print (20 x 36 inches)

My flag is an aerial photo of the subdivision at 111^th and Kostner in Oak Lawn from 1957. At the time of the photo, the houses are still under construction. I chose this particular photo from the Local History archives because of its proximity to the geographic location of the flag pole, and because the strong horizontal stripes already resembled the elements of a flag.

For three generations, my family has lived in Oak Lawn. This flag is a representation of my community.  Like most suburbs, Oak Lawn’s population grew rapidly in the Post–World War II economic expansion.  Since 1950, the majority of Americans have lived in the suburbs.  (52%) The homogenous suburb is a huge part of American culture.  But all of those towns are full of people that make up the unique identity of their community. My community is full of family, friends, and neighbors.

****** Bonus Materials ******

Songs about the Suburbs

1962 -Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds
1967- Pleasant Valley Sunday by The Monkees
1982- Subdivisions by Rush
1996- 1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins
2001- Rockin’ the Suburbs by Ben Folds
2010- The Suburbs by Arcade Fire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu9Ycq64Gy4

www.bridget-mitchell.com

Marilyn Skalberg

 for which it stands
clear trash liner (polyethylene), thread, brass grommets
27″ x 43″
2013
for which it stands
vexillology: the study of flags

asserting its position: mine. theirs, ours, yours. surface, marker of time, tradition, identity, routine, draped, folded, furled/unfurled, sun-bleached, tattered,
I pledge nothing!

proxy, myth, man-made, war, manufactured, not precious, nothing more, nothing less, salute no flag, capture the flag, flag on the play, throw the flag,
people over nation.

never listening, resolute, unwavering waving, unfaltering, declaration, pronouncement, exclamation, herald, message, identity, marker, unambiguous, standard, allegiance, indivisible, for all,
once and for all.

irritating, limiting, shielding, aggressive, exclusivity, inclusivity, pride, arrogance, honor, greed, blind allegiance, symbol, unambiguous, never never doubting, never listening, nor distrusting, nor disloyal,
unnecessary.

dependent on being seen. dependent on being understood. either you is or you ain’t. deny, treason, breach, transparency,
I declare!

never is the flag: no maybe…, yeah but… however…, well…, maybe sorta kinda.  things the wind already knows, between physical and conceptual states,  potential, imperfect, tension, deliberation, indecision, propaganda,
indifference.

hoist, canton, center, charge, fly, width, length, mast, thread, cloth, color, sew, stitch, grommet, warning, surrender, aggression, protocol, nationalism, rebellion, decoration, potent, military, ceremony, absence, presence, uniter, divider,
vexed.

David Ian Griess

David Ian Griess

Double-Sided Pole Pocket Banner

digitally printed vinyl; 30 x 80 inches

2012

Photo by Chase Allgood

February 13th-March 13th 2013

 Front and back view.

Jodie Cavalier: Unconditional

Jodie Cavalier, Unconditional, 2013

Artist Statement:

white flag
Main Entry: white flag

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: unconditional surrender Synonyms: backing down, capitulation, caving in, flag of truce, giving in, retreat, submission, throwing in the towel, truce flag

Main Entry: truce

Part of Speech: noun

Definition: peaceful solution Synonyms: accord, agreement, amnesty, armistice, break, breather, cease-fire, cessation, de-escalation, detente, halt, intermission, interval, letup, lull, moratorium, olive branch, pause, peace, reconciliation, reprieve, respite, rest, stay, suspension, temporary peace, terms, treaty, wind-down
red flag

Main Entry: red flag
Part of Speech: noun

Definition: warning signal Synonyms: casus belli, delicate subject, red light, red rag, sore point