February 22- March 29, 2014
Mute
A Regional Quarterly @ Circuit 12, Dallas
Reception: Feb. 22, 2014
Jesse Morgan Barnett, John Frost, Michael Mazurek, Colby Parsons, and Lucia Simek _ Curated by Ryder Richards
In Boris Groys’ Art Power he discusses curating as a means to “cure” art, which implies that the art is “sick” or “lame” in some way. To be “cured” the art needs a mediator to bring forth it’s ability to “speak,” which hints at the nature of the art’s lameness: an inability to communicate on it’s own.
Discussing this pretentious premise with the artists in Mute started with a conversation about the awkwardness of artists curating and the curator’s voice inevitably mediating despite the nature of the work. We discussed “lame” art, art with notional potential in need of a conversation and specific context, works of liminality and the subdued gesture. Embracing these ideas the artists bring forth quiet works within a context that refuses not to speak.
~Ryder
_ _ _ ABOUT THE ARTISTS _ _ _
Jesse Morgan Barnett is a Dallas based artist who received his M.F.A. (Intermedia) from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2011. His work has been exhibited in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and featured in publications such as Adbusters, Flash Forward, and semigloss. Barnett co-founded the Dallas Biennal and is a member of the collaborative group Dick Higgins. The work attempts to revalue wandering, anniversaries, boredom, and mourning.
John Frost: Over the last five or six years John Frost’s work has mainly consisted of large sculptures and site-specific installations primarily consisting of repurposed wooden elements, specifically wooden dowels and plywood. Recently, he has incorporated other mundane materials and found objects such as duct tape, plastic bags, and styrofoam packing forms; gleaning inspiration from his observations and interactions with his young children. Frost’s work has most recently been included in exhibitions at Eastfield College in Mesquite, Brand 10 Gallery in Fort Worth, and Southwestern College in Chula Vista, CA. He is currently Instructor of Woodworking and Sculpture at St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas.
Michael Mazurek is an artist who lives and works in Dallas, TX. Michael Mazurek received his MFA in Intermedia from the University of Texas at Arlington and a BFA in Art History and Studio Art from Southern Methodist University. His work has been exhibited in Berlin, Copenhagen, Malmö, Brooklyn, Santa Monica, Chicago, New Mexico and Dallas. He co-founded and co-directs the artist run non-profit The Dallas Biennial and is part of the collaborative Dick Higgins, which describes itself as artist, artwork and gallery. Mazurek lives and works in Dallas, TX and is represented by Oliver Francis Gallery.
Colby Parsons lives in Denton Texas, where he is the head of the ceramic area at Texas Woman’s University. His work has been shown nationally and internationally, including the 2010 Taiwanese Biennial, the International Ceramic Research Center in Denmark, the 2013 Sculptural Objects and Functional Art show at Navy Pier in Chicago, and at a variety of other venues in the US. His work has been written about in the bookBreaking the Mould: New Approaches to Ceramics, in a recent article in Ceramics: Art and Perception, and will be featured in the upcoming book Glaze: The Ultimate Collection.
Colby’s work creates an intersection between physicality and the temporal or immaterial — particularly light — using video mapping to dynamically activate sculptural surface. The resulting hybrids invite reconsideration of the way we see the world around us, either by highlighting the beauty of flawed surfaces, or pointing to the hidden associations we have with the objects around us.
Lucia Simek is an artist, curator, and critic. A member of the art collective The Art Foundation, she is currently pursuing her MFA in sculpture at Texas Christian University and was selected as a winner of the inaugural Dallas Art Fair Graduate student art prize in spring 2013. Her work has shown at the Dallas Contemporary, The Dallas Museum of Art, The Power Station, and The Dallas Art Fair, among others. She lives in Dallas with her husband and three children.
Curator: Ryder Richards is a Dallas-based artist and curator who recently co-curated Boom Town at the Dallas Museum of Art, directed The Cube in Roswell, New Mexico during a year long residency, and co-developed the RJP Nomadic Gallery. He has shown work across the United States, in Germany and China. He is a member of several collaborative art groups including The Art Foundation and Culture Laboratory, has participated in the Texas Biennial 2011 and 2013, The Dallas Biennial 2012 and 2014, occasionally writes about art, and teaches at Eastfield College.