The exhibit is a journey through a redefinition and reclamation of the contemporary heroic identity through various iterations of heroic representation. From comic pages to dolls, from bead work to textile work, these pop pieces from the last twenty years invite the audience to investigate, interrogate and reconfigure their relationship to their own bodies and the concept of heroism.
Capturing the human form in art, in any medium, can ask the public to feel, to rethink a subject through the artist’s experience, and/ or to question their own positions on such subjects. The artists included herein steer away from the idealized heroic form and accepted roles for who can participate in such a pop world; they represent the super hero as accessible to the common person and show that a hero is not solely defined by the binary of his huge muscles or her bulging breasts. Evoking the myth of Osiris, of taking the whole, segmenting/ deconstructing and re-imagining a new whole from all the parts (no longer disparate), the viewer is left to situate themselves in their own, new heroic visions.
Star Hang Nga Rush, Executive Director KAC, says of the exhibit:
“Kirkland Arts Center is proud to host the artists in this collection, who push the boundaries of figurative and narrative structures to compose new forms that challenge conventional tropes of ‘superhero.’ In their visions of what is possible, they include the viewer in diverse journeys into the heart of possibility, where we find what it means to be human in an age that, yes, yearns for heroes—and we find are the heroes we are searching for.”
The exhibit premieres on Sept 22 with an Opening Reception from 6-8 pm, and runs through Oct 28. The reception is free and open to the public. Curated by Craig Hurd-McKenney. For more information, please visit kirklandartscenter.org/exhibitions or email exhibition@kirklandartscenter.org.