Get out of the heat and into the air-conditioning at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, where two cool new exhibits have opened just in time for the soupiest days of summer.
David Mabb: The Morris Kitsch Archive
What is it?
Created by British artist David Mabb, the exhibit gives a new spin to irony. It includes more than 720 images of items like cushions, mugs, sofas, stationary, tea cozies and tools, all decorated with the wallpaper designs of William Morris, a well-known 19th-centry English interior designer. Morris, a socialist who despised capitalism with every fiber of his being, would likely be shocked to see the many money-making projects his work has inspired.
The artist:
David Mabb, of London, is a painter who studied at the Chelsea School of Art and has exhibited work all over the world, most recently in Canada and Lithuania.
What they’re saying:
“The designs have become widely available at the expense of the qualities and values inherent to Morris’ original utopian project, which offered in its vision of the fecundity of nature the hope of alternative ways of living in the world.”
-- Artist David Mabb
Check it out:
Open from Aug. 13 through Dec. 5 in the Carol Bieber and Marc Ham Gallery
Artist David Mabb will give a free lecture on Sunday, Oct. 10 at 2 p.m.
In Canon
What is it?
What goes around comes around, and the eight artists featured in this exhibition pay homage to artistic styles of the past, while producing undeniably modern pieces. One artist’s monkey portraits fuse 17th-century Dutch still life with pointed social commentary while another artist’s work uses the styles of the Spanish Baroque masters to highlight modern femininity.
The artists:
Carrie Ann Baade, of Tallahassee, Fla.; Annette Davidek of New York; Julie Heffernan of New York; Laurie Hogan of Chicago; Jane Irish of Philadelphia; Sara Sosnowy of New York; Rene Trevino of Baltimore; and Susan Chrysler White of Iowa City, Iowa.
What they’re saying:
“A common practice throughout the history of art, these methods of visual quotation allow viewers a point of recognition and artists a means of critique.”
-- Guest Curator Margaret Winslow
Check it out:
Open from Aug. 13 through Jan. 2 in the DuPont I & II galleries
Guest Curator Margaret Winslow will discuss the exhibit during the free Art Salad talk at noon on Oct. 21
