MARQUEE PROJECTS
Somebody Nobody Anybody
George Blaha, Loren Erdrich, Cacho Falcon, Barbara Friedman, LoVid KC Crow Maddux, Janet Maya, Mychaelyn Michalec, Lydia Maria Pfeffer, Valiente Pastel, Hunter Potter, Emily Blair Quinn, Emilie Stark-Menneg
Opening Reception:
Saturday July 2, 5-7pm, 2022
Exhibition dates: July 2- August 7, 2022
Just in time for swimsuit season, MARQUEE PROJECTS is delighted to present Somebody Nobody Anybody: the second offering in our series of group exhibitions investigating current interpretations of the human body.
“The body is empty of separate existence.”
– Buddha Shakyamuni
Our opening lines from last year’s introduction bear repeating: From the moment we open our eyes as infants we are hardwired to look at each other, and we live our lives searching faces and bodies for signals of identity, love, animosity, tribe, gender, and sexual attraction. And, for most of western history, learning the human form has been at the core of an artist’s training, an attempt to fathom the complex and elusive depths of our dominant visual fixation.
But how do we ponder the human body when we consider that it is impermanent and in constant flux? Researchers agree that the body replaces itself with a mostly new set of cells every seven to ten years, while some parts are revamped even more quickly. And quantum physics and various spiritual traditions conclude that any physical reality is pretty much an illusion. So, if there is no “there” there, how do we interpret our bodies?
The pieces selected for this exhibit present the body as ambiguous, mutable, and polymorphous, in works by many different artists in many different mediums. Some suggest great fluidity in gender, sexuality, and bodily form – and inevitable discussions of personal identity. Some address issues of bodily interactions, others pose questions about presentation of the self vs. self-camouflage, and still others present bodies that may not be quite human. But many of the works inspire considerations that are related to, but transcend, the human body: contemplations on being and not being, the self and its dissolution, and the nature of waking reality. Ultimately, we are compelled to ask “Who am I?” and “What is my relationship to this physical shell I temporarily inhabit which has no intrinsic identity?”