In the Beginning
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Washington B.C.
Bryan Anthony Moore OPENING Friday, May 14, 5-8PM EXHIBITION May 14 - June 26, 2021 ARTIST TALK Friday, June 18, 6:30PM |
Bryan Anthony Moore researches various nationalistic chronicles of the United States. He posits that American history often deals with pre-industrial times so removed from the present experience that they’ve become fabled times of legend.
In Washington B.C. the exhibition’s content mimics that of museum displays. A series of watercolors depict the amalgamated worlds of mythological titans, dinosaurs, and America’s heroic giants. Clouds of the artist’s archive material frame the paintings as if firsthand artifacts of the portraits, illuminating the various strands of influences invested in each work. Sculptural works, ceramic teapots and wooden dolls, are constructed to mimic objects from the past, creating a visual analogy to the way in which contemporary histories are presented as authentic to their given age. The renderings and objects are supplemented by narrations via audio guide. In this `museum´ exhibit, the artist also plays the naturalist, documentarian, and correspondent. Moore’s reinvention of the past asks the viewer to consider that history is more subjective than it is scientific, with his visual chimeras paralleling the way histories are told. Washington B.C. is a tale of historic eras turned fictional, a constructed past made up of carefully selected edits, fictive additions and glaring omissions. |