An exhibition featuring works by 55 alumni artists and designers living in the NYC region representing 15 majors spanning four decades. Works selected by artists/curators Glenn Ligon + Lisa Sigal and arranged by Erica Cooke + Jessica Fain.
The art works in the RISD 2008 Biennial attest to a wide range of creative sensibilities that can be attributed to differences in age, academic concentrations, personal experience and more. Artists and curators Glenn Ligon and Lisa Sigal skillfully harnessed this diversity in the works they selected.
Our approach to uniting and organizing the works is minimalist, in hopes that viewers will be prompted towards making associations that are inspirational, but not essential, to observing the work. The various arrangements lean towards juxtaposing unlike mediums in order to explore how harmonious ideas can materialize into distinct forms. Associations can be simplistic, such as observing the dominant presence of the color blue or the repeated uses of wood in urban spaces. And other connections require deeper exploration, such as locating the tension between mass-produced and craft-based products. Furthermore, many works investigate space by questioning the validity of common terms like public, private, iconic and domestic.
Mostly, however, the exhibition invites the audience to make connections and build stories of their own: How could one narrate a map of the Nile with watercolors of homes, telephone poles and electrical wiring? Could images of a Shakespearean stage communicate with paintings of nude family members at a national tourist destination?
Similar to how RISD encourages cross pollination through interdisciplinary study, The Old American Can Factory weaves together a collaborative environment of artists and designers where the diversity of artistic production stimulates unexpected links between disciplines and fellow artists.
— Erica Cooke, an independent curator, works in the Prints & Illustrated Books Department at MoMA, and previously worked at XØ Projects at The (OA) Can Factory. She recently completed her curatorial fellowship in the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum, and received an MA in Contemporary Art at University of Manchester/Sotheby’s Institute and a BA in English at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
— Jessica Fain works at the New York City Design Commission, and prior to there, worked at XØ Projects at The (OA) Can Factory. She received her BA in Art History at the University of Pennsylvania. She was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island.
Lindsey Adelman + Carey Ascenzo + Eve Ashcraft + Ivin Ballen + Jeff Barnett-Winsby + Myles Bennett + Megan Biddle + Sam Bittman + Steven Bradford + Noah Breuer + Veronica Byun + Meghan Calhoun + Neil Cohen + David Collins + Katie Commodore + William Covintree + Rachel Deutsch + Lisa di Donato + Stephanie Diamond + Carol Dragon + Jeffrey Dresher + Brad Ewing + Adam Frank + Barbara Friedman + Fiona Gardner + Charles Gibson + Max Gleason + Jacob Goble + Meghan Gordon + Joe Graham-Felsen + Rosma Gutierrez + Steven Haardt + Richard W. Haining Jr + William Hilgendorf + Jason Horvath + Misha Jenkins + Fitzhugh Karol + Labour (Wyeth Hansen) + Adella Ladjevardi + Jerome Lagarrigue + Miranda Maher + L. Mylott Manning + Ezra Masch + Daniel Michalik + Kristine Morich + Ellen Moses + Larissa Nowicki + Colin Oulighan + Garima Panika + Sujin Park + Rebeca Raney + Lee Savage + Leigh Tarentino + Phil Whitman + Audra Wolowiec.
