PAST AND FUTURE PERFECT

PAST AND FUTURE PERFECT—An exhibition of New York City artists including: John Bowman; Nancy Burson; David Deutsch; Tom Koken; Bill Komoski; Annette Lemieux; John Mendelsohn; Steve Miller; Matt Mullican; Robert Younger. From the April Calendar: "The artists in this exhibition examine the relations of individuals in society as well as of our social enterprise to many aspects or the whole of physical reality. Such concerns are often manifested in various kinds of functional systems, orders, structures, or networks. These, in turn, are utilized by many artists, either as subject or model, to address a range of issues. Thus, much work here is produced as a series of related, although not necessarily similar, images or objects in various media, including painting, sculpture, photography, and works on paper. In making their observations, a kind of distance of displacement in time and space, beyond the here and now, is effected. As a result this work possesses a sense of vision of a hypothetical reality which shares many features with utopian or dystopian literature. In this regard, one impetus of this work arises from the artists' assessment and response to various contemporary social practices, ideologies, [and dichotomies], including, in broad terms, science and technology, religion and philosophy, government and political economics, and culture and society. As a visual form of social thought, some work may portray perceptions of shortcomings and failures—or ignorance, confusion, deception, and coercion. In a more utopic and less apocalyptic fashion, other artists encourage us to re-examine and renew our understanding of reality in order to fulfill its potentials, as well as to allow for its necessities" (Robin Dodds, Hallwalls staff curator).

Some publications related to this event:
March, 1985. - 1985