FLUXspace is pleased to present Salad Days, a solo exhibition featuring the work of John O’Donnell (Storrs, CT) from May 15 – June 14, 2009. There will be an opening reception for the exhibition on May 16, 2009 from 7 – 10 pm. A site specific Installage (installation + collage), Salad Days celebrates the inexperience, indiscretion and charming ignorance of an idealized youth, while scolding puberty for the complications it has wrought. Salad Days evokes the vague period before childhood ends and the maturation process begins, a place where sexual thoughts and assumptions are misunderstood and result in indistinct notions of yourself and others. O’Donnell creates an encompassing space—through the use of unadulterated colors, plastic textures, familiar symbols of celebration and summer play—which mimics the comfort and excitement of a child’s birthday party. However, sexual undercurrents and visual saturation subvert these playful qualities, resulting in subtle perversions and misconstrued exaggerations of puberty’s mysteries. In conjunction with the exhibition, the TNPPSSF (The North Philadelphia Puberty Survivors Support Forum) will host a meeting at FLUXspace on Wednesday, June 10 at 7:30 pm. This is both the inaugural, and terminal meeting of TNPPSSF group and will be moderated by the artist. TNPPSSF is modeled after a healing 12-step program, and provides a forum for sharing and overcoming the traumas of puberty’s life changing effects- from bodily odor to father and son “birds and bees” talks. John O’Donnell has exhibited his work internationally including shows in Russia, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and at such institutions as the Chelsea Art Museum, the International Print Center in New York, and the Seoul Museum of Art in Korea. He holds a MFA from the University of Connecticut and received his undergraduate degree from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. During his studies he focused primarily on printmaking, poetry, and magic potions. O’Donnell has continued to sustain the aforementioned passions while avidly creating prints, video art, video instillations, interactive kinetic sculptures, and doodles. Best Regards,
Images: Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer
Extra Ephemera and Digital Detritus: Official Press Release (.pdf)
Press: + Coming Soon +
For more information on this show, contact info[at]thefluxspace[dot]org. |
