ON VIEW / ELLEN JOHNSON GALLERY / JUN 14–DEC 23 The Pattern and Decoration movement (P&D) spanned the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, making decorative motifs a primary subject matter and offering an alternative to the austerity of minimalism and conceptualism. Emerging from the feminist art movement, P&D artists across the United States embraced non-Western cultures, elevated the applied arts, and altered notions of “good taste.” Although P&D initially garnered positive attention, critics failed to appreciate that its visual promiscuity was a rejection of heteropatriarchy andWestern hegemony. Drawn from the Allen’s collection, this exhibition stages a dialogue between historical P&D artists and those working today. This juxtaposition offers a precedent for the contemporary craft revival and traces the evolution of artistic positions on feminism, queerness, and global art. During the ColdWar, art theorists used the term “kitsch” to denigrate Soviet-style socialist realism and differentiate it from abstraction in theWest. Decades later, as that bias subsides, we can appreciate how artists also deploy kitsch to disarm viewers and elicit an emotional response. Riffing on architect Mies van der Rohe’s proclamation “less is more,” Robert Venturi, who designed the gallery that houses this exhibition, retorted, “less is a bore.” Underlying Venturi’s quip is a progressive politics of inclusivity and a rebuke of modernism’s fixation on “purity.” This exhibition celebrates art that is cute, camp, crafty, and decorative, while illuminating the critical implications of those strategies. Organized by SamAdams, Ellen Johnson ’33 Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art 8 / AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU
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