Broodwork: Creative Practice and Family Life
May 23–June 21, 2009
Opening reception: Sat., May 23, 3–6 pm
Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock
2225 Colorado Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90041
323-226-1617
Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock presents BROODWORK: Creative Practice and Family Life, curated by Rebecca Niederlander and Iris Anna Regn.
The idea for the exhibit came from the personal experiences of the two curators reconceiving their creative practices after becoming parents. Parenthood changes everyone, however, since artists (like Niederlander) and architects (like Regn) invent out of their own experience, the issues surrounding the complete life change of parenthood give rise to specific opportunities for rethinking and reconsidering.
Is creativity fostered by proximity with an innocent, uninformed person? Are creative questions previously thought sufficiently answered suddenly asked anew? The curators realized that their own experiences had a much broader significance and that a creative community was producing something they named BROODWORK.
BROODWORK cannot be classified along lines of gender, content or medium, but Niederlander and Regn discovered defining characteristics that often appear, even indirectly. The Families and Work Institute in NYC reports that families today spend significantly more time with their children than even a decade ago. This aligns with a shift in methodology in the creative practice: work is made in small increments of time; projects are also conceived as an accumulation of parts; work is created collaboratively. There also exists an increased awareness of being the "responsible" generation, where ethical and environmental concerns can become a focus or ancillary to it, such as a simple shift towards safe materials. Another type of work takes on the topic of children or childhood, with the specific viewpoint of a creative person who is a parent.
The exhibit provides some of the questions and answers that have emerged from a distinguished group of artists, architects and designers who are the parents of children aged 1-10. There will also be a series of social events that deal with the themes of the show, including readings and documentary films. BROODWORK at Center for the Arts will be the first in a series of analogous exhibitions in different cities, and Niederlander and Regn plan to show BROODWORK as a book by 2011.
Designers and Architects include: Hadley & Peter Arnold, Barbara Bestor, Julliette Bellocq, Kim Colin/Industrial Facility, David Fletcher, Iris Anna Regn & Tim Durfee, Linda Taalman & Alan Koch.
Visual artists include: Lauren Bon and The Metabolic Studio, Jemima Brown, Rebecca Campbell, Jamison Carter, Seonna Hong, Soo Kim, Brandon Lattu, Rebecca Niederlander, Laura Owens & Edgar Bryan, Michael Pierzynski, Eli Pulsinelli & Allen Compton, Lucas Reiner, Denise Uyehara & Natalie Nguyen, Alexis Weidig, Patty Wickman, and Patrick Wilson.
Alexis Weidig, Xhuliana's Prayer, 2007. Furniture parts, hibiscus and coral tree branches, glass, lace, and found objects.