Art Review: RISD Museum’s New Shows

Friday, November 25, 2011

Renée Doucette, GoLocalProv Arts Critic

Jeremy Deller: Manchester Tracks

Black Friday does not exactly conjure up happy thoughts as thousands of people stand in the cold so they can take advantage of special deals while still digesting the previous day’s meal. While so many others are becoming hostile in the parking lots of shopping centers, you could decide to spend the day peacefully walking around the art museum at the Rhode Island School of Design. Ironically, one of the museum’s new exhibits slightly resembles the madness of the biggest shopping day of the year.

Chicken Little and the Culture of Fear

Chicken Little and the Culture of Fear is an ongoing project by artist Nancy Chunn. Six scenes from the series are installed in the Lower Farago Gallery at the museum. Inspired by the mania that occurred as a result of the 9/11 attack, Chunn focuses on exaggerated fears the public experiences as a result of media and often our own imaginations. The exhibit maybe two dimensional, but it is like walking into cartoon comprised of an iconography that is found all around us.

Nancy Chunn: Chicken Little and the Culture of Fear

Instead of large canvases, Chunn uses a patchwork of painted canvases to create scenes for her main character, Chicken Little. Images of cats playing on a ceiling fan and electrical outlets by water are just two of the panic inducing paintings included in this series. A personal favorite is a painting in the hospital scene of a woman in the obstetrics ward receiving her 15 babies. On the bedside table of this funny reference to Octo-mom, is a painting of the famous fertility statue, the Venus of Willendorf. Though her purpose is serious, Chunn successfully lightens the mood and weaves in a bit of humor in her work with its cartoon appearance. The show does remind us that even though we can find amusement in these paintings now, we are still susceptible to the omnipresence of fear.

Jeremy Deller: Manchester Tracks

Chunn’s lead character, Chicken Little, also inspired a song by the English band, Happy Mondays. Shaun Ryder, the Happy Monday’s singer, is featured in a family tree in the new media exhibit Jeremy Deller: Manchester Tracks. Deller, a Turner Prize winner, is from the London but the work in this exhibit is really a love song to the UK city of Manchester. Shaun Ryder’s family tree is the most interesting because of the rebirth of interest in genealogy, but it is also a history of Manchester, the heart of the Industrial Revolution. Industrial cities like Manchester have been the backdrop of several of Deller’s works. In 2009, Deller created a parade for no other reason then to celebrate the diversity of the people living in the city. The exhibit features a video of this performance piece entitled Procession. Everyone loves a parade especially around the holidays. Even though this Manchester is in England, there is something familiar about the spirit of this city that makes me think Deller would be right at home in Providence.

Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design, 224 Benefit Street, Providence. Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am-5 pm  Thursdays, 10 am-9 pm. www .risdmuseum .org