In this exhibit, sculptures, paintings and color prints convey the disorientation of the digital world and the effects of mass communication on one’s vocabulary. The spectator is forced to confront their inner child where language is at its primal stage, unbound by strict rules of sentence structure and root words. Many pieces have repeated patterns of letters while some have words drawn in a child’s handwriting, ineligible for the viewer to comprehend.
The ANTI-AESTHETIC’s exhibit “PhonoMorphoIdiot” criticizes the modern world’s use of abundant information. In the show, Oregon-based artists Andrew C.M. Lorish, Alyson Provax, Stephanie Parnes, Mady Maszk and Courtney Stubbert amplify how one is manipulated through written and visual content.
According to Pauline Bellmann’s TEDxViennaarticle, people are overstimulated.Words from text messages, advertisements and news outlets overload people with information that can be too much to process. Language is a multifaceted tool for humans to navigate the world.
In Parnes’ piece “the only wet blanket, 2022,” a dozen single letters are piled on top of each other on a wooden tabletop. As the viewer looks closer at the white clay segments, the letters spell out the title of the piece. Each segment is arranged like it is dripping off the tabletop. According to Parnes, she enjoys exploring concepts that make a word seem like it is performing an action.
Don Haugen, a multimedia artist and a Eugene Contemporary Art volunteer, supervises the front of the exhibit in part of his effort to bring contemporary art to the community. Haugen said he was fascinated by Stubbert’s gessoed, square panels — “All works untitled, 2018-2022” — because of the images’ usage of iconography and quotes from different pop culture references to create a new visual language. Haugen believes the soft pastels and rough pencil sketches on the panels allow people to gravitate to Stubbert’s art.
Stubbert’s work incorporates two-word captions and unpretentious color drawings with light shades. In one piece, a red blob with a black hole is saying “King Me” from a comic book bubble. Without any explanation, Stubbert leaves his audience searching for hidden clues beyond the panel’s surface-level observations.
Haugen said putting words in a fine art context makes people question the reason for its appearance in the gallery. Haugen said words don’t always have to be involved in a literary context and can be used for a visual intention. The show’s title helps Haugen poke fun at the fact that it is not trying to be pretentious.
“I think this exhibit blurs the line a bit by pulling out literature,” Haugen said. “It places it into a gallery and makes people think about it as art not so much as the written word. The place is like a 3-dimensional poetry piece.”
In Provax’s piece “All works untitled, 2021-2022,” simple television phrases such as “I know, right?” or “You know what I am saying” are letterpressed or stamped onto Hahnemühle copperplate paper. According to Legion Paper, Hahnemühle is a specialized wood fiber that can absorb liquid solutions without any cracking or tears. Provax’s papers are covered with pressed ink, allowing for many designs such as a sun, fans or rainbow shapes to be explored. The artist’s goal is to emphasize repetition and how communities across the world connect through manufactured content.
Haugen believes the exhibit as a whole is addressing miscommunication issues. Haugen said humans cannot sustain the messages and information they are given without going crazy. Everything one needs could be searched within seconds and bypasses the need to look for accurate sources, Haugen said.
“Language has always been fluid, that’s nothing new,” Haugen said. “Technology is changing, and everything from the first written word to the printed word has always been part of that. There’s the concept of language [that it] is like a virus where you have it change, and it mutates; and then it adjusts and becomes something different.”
The “PhonoMorphoIdiot” exhibit is on display at the ANTI-AESTHETIC art center in Downtown Eugene from April 16 to May 29. It is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 to 4 p.m.
