Monday, September 13, 2010

Opening Day - "Economix"

















Michael Ifland's "Economix: Artifacts of a Failed Economy" opened today to a throng of visitors who expressed very personal levels of identification with the work, and were excited to meet the artist and share their own thoughts.

Please join us for a gallery tour Friday, September 24th at 7 pm to meet the artist in person, sip from the gallery finery, and compare credit card statements. Contact us if you are interested in attending.

About the show:
Taking advantage of the location and environment that mauve? Gallery inherently provides, I decided to create a site-specific installation in the hopes of encouraging a discourse between the objects on view, and the life that each of us lives as both laborer and consumer. With that being said, I have assembled a series of found and familiar consumer based items, products of political prankery, and relics of a failed financial system. It is my intention to present these objects not only as understated, unconventional works of art and design, but also as artifacts of cultural importance, perhaps even ones that may make a much larger and profound statement than we care to imagine.

Of course today this message seems even more relevant then ever before as we stand witness to a global economy based solely upon consumerism and international trade. However, often times we may feel overwhelmed by the mass of facts and figures thrown our way in regards to the global economy, and the information we do interpret can easily become lost in a sea of contrary statistics. In this way, it’s important to take on these issues in a much more personal manner and examine the situation as it pertains to us, the American consumer. Hopefully these works will encourage each of us to investigate the true purpose, meaning and intention of these objects, and help to objectify our own place amongst them.

In the end, I only intend to offer an investigation of sorts through an assortment of “artifacts” that may, or may not, offer an explanation as to what we have become. At the very least, each of you can walk away with a free sticker and a somewhat humorous take on an otherwise unpromising situation. And that is certainly more than this economy currently has to offer.

About the artist:
I was born in 1976 in Los Angeles California. I began to draw as early as I can remember, using oversized crayons at first, and then eventually working my way up to oversized pencils. At age six, I became frustrated with the substandard quality of my so-called watercolor set and demanded some real paint. I’ve been creating odd works ever since. I now happily live and work in Berkeley California where I continue to seek my degree in Art Practice.

- Michael Ifland

You can find out more about the artist by visiting his web entity www.behance.net/the_ifman, or his corner of the commercial market sector www.etsy.com/shop/theifman.

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