Despite the myth of the artist who works in solitude, artist circles have long dominated art history. The Impressionists drank absinthe while the railway passed by, the Cubists drank wine at the Café La Rotund, and Abstract Expressionists drank whiskey at the Cedar Tavern, respectively proclaiming manifestos concerning a new kind of art making practice. Sharing common ideological, philosophical and aesthetic concerns, these artists were friends and admirers who lived in the same cities, met regularly and often exhibited their work ... Read more

Despite the myth of the artist who works in solitude, artist circles have long dominated art history. The Impressionists drank absinthe while the railway passed by, the Cubists drank wine at the Café La Rotund, and Abstract Expressionists drank whiskey at the Cedar Tavern, respectively proclaiming manifestos concerning a new kind of art making practice. Sharing common ideological, philosophical and aesthetic concerns, these artists were friends and admirers who lived in the same cities, met regularly and often exhibited their work together. The artists featured in Pothole have assumed a 21st century virtual form, crossing cities and borders. While many are friends and former classmates, others share an artistic dialogue through viewing one another’s work in exhibitions or following their moves online. Although their practices are diverse, they live in different cities and are not regularly in exhibitions together, their work nonetheless has certain commonalities including a strong emotive or expressionist sensibility as well as an attraction to untraditional, handmade and often “low” materials. Pothole celebrates these ten artists as colleagues and friends.