Shawn Mayer: Customizable CONTENTment at Liliana Bloch Gallery, March 2 – May 4, 2024
Shawn Mayer, “We’re so glad that you’re here,” 2023, inkjet printed on carpet, 24 x 36 inches
Shawn Mayer, “Caution Tape #2,” 2023, inkjet on towel, 57 x 71 inches
Shawn Mayer’s latest exhibition at Liliana Bloch Gallery, Customizable CONTENTment, offers an exploration of the intersection between urban decay, modernity, and the melancholy of mining reality for aesthetics.
Through a series of original photographs, Mayer invites viewers to reconsider the conventions of home customization and adornment, blurring the boundaries between interior design and exterior realities. From curtains to floor mats, each photograph captures the haphazard qualities of urban life, reflecting on themes of degradation and mortality.
The photographs, many of which were taken in Portland, evoke a sense of nostalgia and reflection, hinting at the unsatisfactory conditions of a world in flux. Amidst the backdrop of the crumbling concrete and sites of abandonment that reveal a city on the edge, the gallery is covered in custom-printed objects that are meant to serve a dual purpose. The floor mats in particular are especially evocative of bringing the problems of the outside world into the home. Mayer’s keen insight into modernity is evident in his ability to illuminate the beauty in the mundane, without resorting to didacticism.
One particularly striking photograph depicts an empty bulletin board adorned with rainbow trim, its musical notation serving as a poignant reminder of the absence of any bills or posters. In an opposite display of human intervention, another photograph shows a truck covered in grime, with a drawing finger-painted into the back side. Mayer excels at using photography to reveal the unspoken qualities of a place.
Customized CONTENTment is a testament to Mayer’s ability to find beauty in the unexpected, challenging viewers to consider the built environment and urban life. Through his unconventional approach, Mayer invites us to see the world with fresh eyes, discovering humor and humanity amidst the chaos of modern existence.
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Torn Apart: Punk + New Wave Graphics, Fashion and Culture, 1976-1986 at Hawn Gallery, SMU Hamon Arts Library, February 8 – May 10, 2024
Installation view of “TORN APART: Punk+, New Wave, Graphics, Fashion & Culture”
Installation view of “TORN APART: Punk+, New Wave, Graphics, Fashion & Culture”
The rebellious spirit of punk is on view in Torn Apart: Punk + New Wave Graphics at SMU’s Hawn Gallery. The exhibition is a vibrant showcase of posters and ephemera promoting live music performances and album releases.
From the iconic Grace Jones Island Life album cover, with its slick studio photography lighting and art direction, to the raw authenticity captured in the Circle Jerks poster featuring a skanking young rebel, each piece in the exhibition serves as a window into the graphic design revolution of the late 1970s and 1980s music scene.
Many of these images are well-known instances of graphic design in music. Torn Apart sometimes delves deeper, exploring the smaller, more obscure posters promoting local events and underground shows. These artifacts, often produced with limited resources and distributed with passion rather than profit, embody the ethos of punk culture — a rejection of mainstream capitalism in favor of creative expression and community. Dallas, as is the case with many North American cities, has had a vein of post-punk, industrial, and darkwave running within its music scenes continuously since the inception of the genre. Seeing some of the most famous designs from the era on display here has some historic value, but this collection ultimately contains little reference to Texas and Dallas. While viewers will appreciate this display, there is no answer as to what the collection’s relationship is to the milieu in which it is being shown.
As visitors navigate through the exhibition, they are invited to unravel the invisible alignment logic of each poster, discovering the meticulous craftsmanship and sensuousness of hand-drawn design. In an era dominated by digital media, the tangible presence of these posters serves as a reminder of the human touch and artistic fervor that defined the punk and new wave movements.
Torn Apart is a journey through time and culture, a celebration of the DIY ethos that continues to shape artistic expression today. Exploring the realm of punk and new wave graphics provides an intriguing opportunity to revisit paper ephemera, yet it often merely showcases popular designs without contextualizing the city’s rich aesthetic culture in the same genre. While the exhibition offers a thoroughly enjoyable experience, a deeper exploration or contextualization of the city’s vibrant aesthetic heritage within the genre would have enhanced the overall presentation.
William Sarradet is the Assistant Editor for Glasstire.
