21c "Pop Stars!" Dakotah Gibson

Pop Stars! Exhibition Review

21c Museum Hotel Louisville is curating the exhibit “Pop Stars! Popular Culture and Contemporary Art” exhibit. This exhibit is about today’s consumer-based, media-dominated culture and how it is created and consumed. There were a lot of other topics addressed such as gender and race politics, veneration of fame, and identity relative to culture and media.

21c is somewhat non-traditional due to the fact that it exists primarily in a hotel lobby, which at times is a bit distracting or strange, but nonetheless this exhibit was engaging and well displayed. There was a variety of mediums ranging from video installation to 3D sculptural pieces, photography, etc. The variety in topics discussed within the umbrella of popular culture was very nice and none of the work seemed to stray too far from the overall basis of the exhibit. This exhibit was enjoyable, well curated, and relevant to modern society and culture. 

Nick Cave

Hustle Coat, 2014

Mixed media

Nick Cave is a three dimensional mixed media artist mostly known for his sound suits, but this piece was made as a commentary on trench coats and the stereotypes of a street salesman hiding things within them. He makes work such as this because he is interested in costumes or special attire and how it can have a purpose within culture. We seem to be a very visual culture at the time and it is interesting how we can look at icons and immediately understand them and that is similar to how i felt when looking at the trench coat in his piece. His message is almost immediately understood based on the preconceived idea of trench coats hiding things within. It is something we see in movies or on TV or in anti-drug ads. 

Leonce Raphael Agbodjélou (Beninian)

Untitled, from the series musclemen, 2012

Chromogenic print

There has been a lot of shift recently in how masculinity and femininity are portrayed and perceived visually. This photo contains bodybuilders from Benin dressed in decorative clothing and holding vases of flowers to represent paying homage to beauty over strength. There is a lot of change happening right now. for example the continued activism of the LGBT community as well as feminist community. There are a lot more people shifting in support of those that identify as something other than heterosexual. with this change we will also see a change in gender roles and how they are expected to look.  This work is pertinent to our current culture and the message intended was conveyed effectively.

overall this exhibit was well curated, very pertinent to our culture today, and displayed well. The work never deviated from the overall topic of the exhibit and the variety of subtopics and mediums kept the exhibit engaging and refreshing. Bringing contemporary culture and art together and showing how they coincide was also good for me as an artist, so I can see that artists are cultural provocateurs and that they have the ability to convey messages and make changes actively.
- Dakotah Gibson