Event
UniformationPost an Event »
Maple Street Denim
June 7 - August 30, 2015Info
- http://www.msdoak.com/events
- 510.816.5326
Reception
June 7, 2015 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Alison OK Frost’s mesmerizing, exquisitely rendered, and subtly colored watercolor works depict a steady stream of catastrophes and portentous imagery including natural disasters, riots, and derelict landscapes: the world in a state of collapse and chaos. Science fiction these are not however; the subject matter comes from existing documentary photographs, found via Google Image Search, of event already happening now.
If the central question of our time is “when will the apocalypse begin?” Frost suggests, “Maybe it’s already started?” In Uniformation, Frost focuses on groups of people in military uniforms, riot gear, and hazmat suits moving in formation. These figures seem to have been stripped of their individuality--depicted not so much as particular subjects as they are manifestations of something more diffuse and intangible. The white negative space and ambiguous sourcing of the images further generalize and abstract these subjects. That is, the point is not politics, per se, but the matter of ineluctable systemic forces operating globally. However, Frost’s vision is not merely fatalistic or dystopian. Her ineffably light touch and dark subjects asserts the importance of art (against this darkness) while demanding--as a kind of moral imperative--that its purpose is not to escape the world but a steadfast turning toward it.