Sarah Thibault & Micah Wood
There’s no such thing as a free hand.
August 20 – September 10, 2016
Opening Reception: August 20, 2016 2-5pm
tmoro projects is pleased to present “There’s no such thing as a free hand.” an exhibition of painting, drawing and sculpture by Sarah Thibault & Micah Wood. Sarah Thibault’s artwork for this exhibition, drawings on paper and sculptures made of provisional materials like cardboard and aluminum foil, investigates the quiet trauma of the everyday: injustices felt only by the invisible and the silenced. Among her subjects are the homeless population in San Francisco- people who are cast out and living at the fringes of the city; and women aging in a culture where youth and beauty are valued over experience or agency, and where they are often denied ownership of their reproductive choices. While the challenges faced by each group are unique, there is a common thread of powerlessness and a loss of humanity that is shared. Engaging a surrealist approach to materials and humor as access points into challenging subject matter, the work attempts to bring light to the issues that haunt our culture from the shadows.
Micah Wood’s small paintings on panels and reproductions of original posters offers a chance for the viewer to think about the current conflicts in the US and abroad. His use of posters by the French group “Atelier Populaire” draws upon the political context of France in the 1960’s, a time that is eerily similar to the American political landscape of today. Atelier Populaire posters were made for the May 68’ protests in Paris and primarily produced at the Beaux-Arts academy. The artists were addressing issues such as capitalism, fascist governments, consumerism and immigration, among other things. These artists decided to de-authorize the posters, making them available for mass reproduction— a nod to a more Marxist way of distribution. Wood felt a particular resonance with these posters while he was living in Paris this past year. The radical notion of giving up authorship of the “artwork” is also of particular interest to Wood in terms of appropriation and a conflation between political texts and painting.
Leora Lutz has written as essay as a response to the concepts in Thibault and Wood’s work. Through studio visits to view their work in progress, and conversations about recent overarching thoughts and ideas, Lutz has observed and documented thematic relationships in the two artists’ work, specifically: Economy, Faciality and Dwelling. Weaving theoretical links with personal narrative and wit, the essay creates an alternative read to the work, remarking on the notion that art as a springboard to foster energy and dialog beyond the visuals.
