Desire Encapsulated
The concept of desire is one familiar to every human being and yet is near-impossible to define. Desire was declared by Gautama Buddha to be the source of all suffering, something that must be relinquished. Others, such as the utopian socialist Charles Fourier, saw personal desires as crucial to establishing social harmony. Perhaps the most philosophically dense works concerning desire have been made in the arts. Visual signifiers can best articulate the ambiguity that desire holds within the human conscience. From the ecstatic sculptures of the Italian Baroque to sensuous ukiyo-e prints, all the way to the intimate new media and digital works of our present, art has been used to encapsulate, rather than define, our notions of desire.
It is in this artistic tradition that Desire Encapsulated follows. The exhibition features 17 artists who create works in which desire is expressed and captured through different media, techniques, and practices. In Desire Encapsulated, as in desire itself, there is a constant push and pull between literalness and metaphor, between dreaming and waking, between figuration and abstraction. This tension is reflected in the flow of the exhibition, which is exhibited throughout Make Room鈥檚 new gallery space.
In the first gallery, traditional narratives of desire are mediated by material, form, and tradition: Hiba Schahbaz and Chris Oh find modern resonance in the confines of historic styles and techniques, while the works of Lior Modan and Sula Berm煤dez-Silverman revel in the inherent sensuality and mystery of their materials.
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The concept of desire is one familiar to every human being and yet is near-impossible to define. Desire was declared by Gautama Buddha to be the source of all suffering, something that must be relinquished. Others, such as the utopian socialist Charles Fourier, saw personal desires as crucial to establishing social harmony. Perhaps the most philosophically dense works concerning desire have been made in the arts. Visual signifiers can best articulate the ambiguity that desire holds within the human conscience. From the ecstatic sculptures of the Italian Baroque to sensuous ukiyo-e prints, all the way to the intimate new media and digital works of our present, art has been used to encapsulate, rather than define, our notions of desire.
It is in this artistic tradition that Desire Encapsulated follows. The exhibition features 17 artists who create works in which desire is expressed and captured through different media, techniques, and practices. In Desire Encapsulated, as in desire itself, there is a constant push and pull between literalness and metaphor, between dreaming and waking, between figuration and abstraction. This tension is reflected in the flow of the exhibition, which is exhibited throughout Make Room鈥檚 new gallery space.
In the first gallery, traditional narratives of desire are mediated by material, form, and tradition: Hiba Schahbaz and Chris Oh find modern resonance in the confines of historic styles and techniques, while the works of Lior Modan and Sula Berm煤dez-Silverman revel in the inherent sensuality and mystery of their materials.
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Make Room鈥檚 new location in Hollywood is a private garden courtyard leading into two exhibition spaces.
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