Vox Populi presents VOX VII, its seventh annual juried exhibition of emerging artists. Selected by curator Melissa Ho and artist-alter-ego Hennessy Youngman, recent works by 33 artists from across the United States reflect the broad variety of concerns and materials in play in creative practice now.
Social commentary on the urban experience runs through the exhibition, often in visually compelling works that cross boundaries between media. Leigh van Duzer photographs the inner elements of architecture as exposed during construction, skillfully cutting, bending and shaping the prints until they become “untenable” 3D structures. Recent Tyler School of Art MFA graduate Lindsay Wraga combines sculptural modeling with painting and collage on canvas in bold depictions of a “parallel world that is overcrowded and teetering on the brink of disaster.”
Themes of time and movement are also key within the show. Brooklyn-based Chris Domenick’s videos push everyday materials (children’s marbles and yellow measuring tape) through kinetic processes to produce abstract form, gesture and sound. Performance and video artist Run Shayo blends emotive
modern dance, cinematic references, character portrayals and spoken word to “celebrate the invention of the human body.” In VOX VII, his film Becoming-Begoing (2011) was shot in the Connecticut woodland while participating in a residency at I Park. The Philadelphia-based duo Wilson & Blackstone transform their mixed-media objects over time using deliberate sabotage and exposure to the forces of nature.
Selected Artists
Milana Braslavsky, Andrea Brown, Chris Domenick, Hilary L Doyle, Leigh van Duzer, Kristina Estell, Ashlee Ferlito, Erik Geschke, Scott Giblin, Ben Goddard, Bobby Gonzales, Jordan Graw, James Grilli, Adam Jacono, Tara Kelton, Nichola Kinch, Matthew Krawcheck, Jennifer Lingford, Kevin McCullough, Bud McNichol, Dustin Metz, A. Bill Miller, Jonathan Monaghan, Benjamin Pederson, Daniel Petraitis, Lauren Rice, Peter Schenck, John Schlesinger, Run Shayo, Jaime Treadwell, Jessica Vaughn, Sarah Weber, Nathan T. Wilson & Dante Blackstone, Lindsay Wraga
About the Jurors
Melissa Ho is assistant curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C. A former member of Vox Populi, she studied art and art history at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania, and has taught at Tyler School of Art and the Corcoran College of Art and Design.
Hennessy Youngman (played by artist Jayson Musson) “offers screamingly funny and sometimes sharply critical observations on the art world in the form of instructional videos. Topics range from the perils of copying Bruce Nauman to understanding relational esthetics, to how to be a successful artist.” (Art in America)
