Adriane Herman

"Stocked: Contemporary Art from the Grocery Aisles" on view at Ulrich Museum

I am thrilled to have three inlaid burnishing clay panels re-presenting grocery lists in this exhibition. Scroll down to see the amazing company my work gets to keep during this traveling exhibition!


Campbell's. Coca-Cola. Del Monte. Kellogg's. In the late 1950s and 1960s, these food conglomerates became household names as America witnessed a revolution in the production, retail, and consumption of grocery items. More and more, it was not raw ingredients one purchased, but packaged and processed foods that were chosen according to their labels and one’s perception of the brands they represented.

Campbell's. Coca-Cola. Del Monte. Kellogg's. These brands were also the subjects of the mid-20th-century pop artists. As corporations revolutionized the food industry, these artists turned the art world upside down by unabashedly depicting common consumer products, often using reproductive techniques and designs borrowed from commercial marketing.

Campbell's. Coca-Cola. Del Monte. Kellogg's. In the second decade of the 21st century, we still know these brands produce soup, sodas, fruit, and breakfast cereal. Yet, our present moment is markedly different from that of 50 years ago. Our grocery-shopping experiences now include computerized terminals, digital coupons, and products covered in labels highlighting nutrition content. Documentaries such as Food Inc., books such as Mark Bittman's Food Matters, and television programs such as Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution are but a few indicators that Americans are reconsidering what they eat, how they eat it, and even the sources of their food.

Stocked: Contemporary Art from the Grocery Aisles presents the work of contemporary artists who, directly and indirectly, take the grocery store and consumption of its products as their subjects. Using a variety of styles and media, they keenly and cleverly investigate not only the grocery items we purchase, but also the physical and psychological environments in which we shop, the individuals and social frameworks we encounter there, and the cultural norms that inform our habits of consumption.

Artists in the exhibition:
Sonny Assu
Scott Blake
Louis Cameron
Hillary Carlip
Adriane Herman
David Hilliard
Damien Hirst
Christian Jankowski
Julian Montague
Karyn Olivier
Lucy + Jorge Orta
Jonathan Seliger
Store Buyout: Matt Fidler, Jody Gnant, Hal Kirkland, Kyle MacDonald, and Gary Lachance
Brian Ulrich
Rachel Perry Welty
Andy Warhol

An 88-page, full-color publication of the same name accompanies this exhibition. Purchase online at www.ulrich.wichita.edu/marketplace or order by phone by calling (316) 978-3664.

"Prints: Breaking Boundaries" at Portland Public Library 1/4-2/23

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You Lose, You Ooze is included in an exhibition at Portland Public Library's Lewis Gallery entitled "Prints: Breaking Boundaries," curated by CMCA Curator Emeritus, Bruce Brown.

This silkscreen with carborundum flocking (2010) evolved out of a series of drawings entitled A Very Civil Union, which comprised an effort to meditate upon the characteristics of a healthy partnership and how to maintain it once achieved. The aggregate image depicts two suitcases that exist both on their own and as an inextricably entwined entity. This struck me as an analog for the kind of healthy relationship to which each partner brings an approximately equal amount of “baggage,” and out of which develops a new space that is at once inside and beyond each partner -- together making them more than the sum of their parts (and their “issues”).

The carborundum “flocking” was created by shaking tiny metal shavings onto the wet print. Some stuck to the transparent ink base before it dried and the excess dropped away through agitation. These metal shavings are used in printmaking studios to “grain” an image off a limestone so that a new image can be placed onto it from which lithographic prints are “pulled.” The abrasive nature of carborundum materially reflects the challenges inherent in trying to partner with another human being, while the dripping nature of the image figuratively connotes the “blood, sweat, and tears” aspect of trying to make a relationship work and/or losing it. The association of carborundum with trying to erase one go at something to make room for another is fitting for times when we are seeking to begin fresh, hopefully having learned from mistakes that doomed past relationships. The reflective and sparkly aspect of the material relates to…well…you know, the fun times – temptations and rewards that coexist with the tribulations and [hopefully] counterbalance or [ideally] even outweigh them.  

(A detail follows.)

Visit my studio with Amze Emmons of Printeresting

Thanks to Amze Emmons for coming up the four flights of stairs in August to visit my studio in Portland during his residency at Space Gallery. Now that it's cooled off, come on up yourself! 

(okay, so there's art below, above, all around...what else were you expecting??!!)

One excerpt from Amze's reflections that makes me sound equal parts Lenny Bruce, Ira Glass, and Carol King:  Having a conversation with Herman about this project and its huge archive is part stand-up routine, and part live episode of This American Life. Like many artists, her primary practice is paying attention to moments in life others often overlook, and then threading those moments into a beautiful tapestry.

 

 

"Coping Mechanics" deemed PRINTERESTING (.org)

Thanks to Julia V. Hendrickson for her thoughtful synopsis of my recent exhibition entitled "Coping Mechanics," which you can read here on Printeresting.org. I am grateful to Western Exhibitions for the first chance to wallpaper a wall using "Dually Noted," a print created collaborativelly with Brian Reeves and the many people who contributed lists and notes to my ongoing archive.

"Coping Mechanics" opens at Western Exhibitions May 25 - June 30, 2012

 

 

119 N. Peoria St. #2A Chicago, IL 60607 • Wed. - Sat. 11-6 and by appointment

 

Western Exhibitions presents its third solo show with ADRIANE HERMAN. The show opens on Friday, May 25, 2012 with a free public reception from 5 to 8pm and will run through June 30, 2012. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11am to 6pm and by appointment.

For the past several years, Adriane Herman has taken artistic inspiration from her collection of over 1000 found, gifted, and bartered “to do” lists, re-presenting these scraps of paper on a significantly larger scale in a variety of media, from inlaid burnishing clay panels; screenprints; photo-etchings; embossments; vinyl decals; to virtually any mediated medium. This re-creation of other people’s list reveals, to her, certain universal aspects of humanity, such as our common need for food, shelter, water, human companionship, entertainment, and -- in most cultures -- toilet paper. Herman’s unique and editioned objects trace the trajectory from intention to action, highlighting and monumentalizing the tasks that vie for our time, energy, and attention.

Herman states:
Since lists are generally written with the self in mind as intended reader, they embody honest, unfiltered documentation of what humans today are doing (or at least intending to do) with our most precious resources of time, energy, and attention. Forces such as advertising are still in play, as manifest by the prevalence of brand loyalty in many of the thousand plus lists I have collected. However, by and large, sifting through these intimate yet anonymous documents of human aspirations, procrastinations, and accomplishments both large and small reveal us to be -- depending on your perspective -- reassuringly individualized or damnably idiosyncratic, despite shared experience and struggles. 

Anchoring the show will be "Coping Mechanics,” an ink-jet print stitched together from nine photographs that measures 16.25 x 70 inches. It depicts nine of the most personal and revelatory, even voyeuristic, lists in Herman’s collection, each of which directly or indirectly reveals its writer trying to deal with something challenging. Some of these are quite literal and self-explanatory, while others operate more abstractly and suggestively when taken out of context. “Dually Noted” is a wallpaper installation created collaboratively with Brian Reeves, which consists of a grid of ink-jet reproductions of lists from Herman’s vast archive. Other works in the show re-present individual lists, such as “Home,” a lithograph that utilizes the transparency of Japanese paper to “note” the contents of both front and back of a hand-written list of items the writer wished to retrieve from his mother’s house after she passed away. The screenprint “Passion Aggression” counters with humor, valorizing a mother’s enumerated list of tasks her offspring had better accomplish “or else” – signed “Have a nice day. Love, Mom.” 

[above] Adriane Herman and Brian Reeves, Dually Noted (tiled), 2012, each sheet: 27"x20" Edition: 100

 

[above] Adriane Herman, Coping Mechanics, 2011, ink-jet, 70"x16.7" Edition: 11

 

[above] Adriane Herman, Passion Aggression, 2011, silkscreen, 23" x 21",

printed at the University of Northern Iowa. Edition: 20

 

[above] Adriane Herman, Home, 2012, [double sided] lithograph, printed at the University of Iowa, 

31.5" x 21.75". Edition 20

 

[above] Adriane Herman, Free - Please Take!, 2012, 14"x11" (paper size). Edition: 44

"Sticky Situations" portfolio reviewed by Susan Tallman in ART IN PRINT

I can't help but be thrilled that Susan Tallman, author of The Contemporary Print:  From Pre-Pop to Postmodern, reviewed my 2009 Sticky Situations portfolio in the January/February 2012 issue of Art in Print journal.

Other artists reviewed in this volume include many of my personal and professional heroes, so it's truly exciting.  Thanks to Susan Tallman for this thoughtful reflection on this collection of prints, and to Mark Pascale for suggesting that Tallman take a look.  Also huge thanks to Scott Speh of Western Exhibitions (and Western XEditions) for showing the prints to Tallman and many others.

Click HERE to read the review.

 

Podcast of mini Pop!Tech talk about LISTS

Pop!Tech has released podcasts of all 2011 conference videos.  Click here to view mine and gain access to all others.  The entire conference is posted, so search away for fascinating talks from this year and prior conferences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poptalk at Poptech 10/22

I'll be giving a micro-talk on my list-collecting/reflecting project.  Live popcast here, 10:30 am.  Wish me luck being pithy.  I have five minutes!

Color: Fully Engaged on view at A+D Gallery, Columbia College, Chicago

I am thrilled to have work included in Color: Fully Engaged, which runs through November 5th. 

Color makes a comeback every day. We open our eyes, we turn on the light, we see, we remember color. Color: Fully Engaged is a multi-faceted exploration of the meaning and interpretation of color. Via works created as part of fine arts, design and architecture disciplines, this exhibition follows modern and contemporary trajectories of color as both singular idea and associative methodology. Investigating color symbolism and hierarchies within historical, cultural and theoretical contexts, each selection ponders what may or may not be universal about color.  The exhibition catalog includes an introduction by curator Jamilee Polson Lacy, essay by Claudine Isé, and artists' interviews.

Contributing artists include Academy Records, Jeanne Dunning, Susan Giles, Dan Gunn, Adriane Herman, Anna Kunz, Jessica Labatte, Matthew Metzger, Liz Nielsen and Nathaniel Robinson.

Download the lushly illustrated COLOR-FULL catalog here.

Closing Reception + Live Webcast Deinstallation at Interlochen Center for the Arts

Pick Me Up (a few things), Adriane Herman's exhibition exploring the trajectory from intention to action, closes Septemer 9, 2011.  Click here to view photographs of the exhibition installation.

This solo exhibition features Wall of Intention, a site-specific installation of a portion of Herman's collection of well over 1000 found, gifted, and bartered [grocery and other] "to do" lists, as well as artworks created in response to individual specimens from this collection.  These artworks take the form of limited edition intaglio and silkscreen prints, one-of-a-kind inlaid burnishing clay tablets, vinyl decals to be installed on windows leading into the gallery and throughout campus, graphite rubbings from these and previous installations of vinyl decals, as well as temporary tattoos the artist hopes to trade audience members for in exchange for lists they may no longer need. 

In conjunction with the closing of the exhibition, Herman will lead workshops in which Interlochen Arts Academy students will generate narrative 'zines that combine images with texts that articulate why a single object is of particular significance to them and how it reflects what is important to them.

The closing reception for Adriane Herman's Pick Me Up (a few things…) is Friday, September 9, 2011 from 6:00 - 7:30 pm.  A lecture by the artist will occur on Thursday, September 8 at 7 pm.

Watch Herman's site-specific Wall of Intention development through the video-documentation below (or click here).  Viewers can also witness the deinstallation process live through the viewer-directed webcam in the Dow Visual Arts Gallery on Saturday, September 10 and Sunday, September 11. 

Solo exhibition opens July 28 at Interlochen Arts Center

Adriane Herman's Pick Me Up (a few things), a solo exhibition exploring the trajectory from intention to action, runs July 28 through Septemer 9, 2011. Installation photos here.

This solo exhibition features Wall of Intention, a site-specific installation of a portion of Herman's collection of well over 1000 found, gifted, and bartered [grocery and other] "to do" lists, as well as artworks created in response to individual specimens from this collection.  These artworks take the form of limited edition intaglio and silkscreen prints, one-of-a-kind inlaid burnishing clay tablets, vinyl decals to be installed on windows leading into the gallery and throughout campus, graphite rubbings from these and previous installations of vinyl decals, as well as temporary tattoos the artist hopes to trade audience members for in exchange for lists they may no longer need. 

Herman will be lead workshops in which Interlochen campers and students will generate narrative 'zines that combine images with texts that articulate why a single object is of particular significance to them and how it reflects what is important to them.

The opening reception for Adriane Herman's Pick Me Up (a few things…) is Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 6 pm.  A lecture by the artist will follow.

Watch Herman's site-specific Wall of Intention develop from Monday, July 25, through Thursday, July 28 through the viewer-directed webcam in the Dow Visual Arts Gallery.