[Imc-web] Press Release: Local Art Exhibit

[Mariah Johnson]

(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE)
Contact Danma, 217-898-3733, danielma at uiuc.edu

NINE LOCAL ARTISTS WILL SHOW THEIR SOFTER SIDE

(Urbana, Ill.) – For ten days at the beginning of March, an exhibition 
of new work by several up-and-coming local artists will occupy an 
unsuspecting storefront in downtown Urbana, Illinois. Curator and 
artist Danma envisions the show, titled The Softer Side, as a candy 
coated look at the roles of consumption and consumerism in everyday 
American life.

Danma has brought together a group of artists whose work ranges from 
found-object sculpture to video to sticker collage. Despite the 
diversity of media, he reads all the included pieces as addressing 
ideas of store-bought happiness, prepackaged fantasies, and the 
delights of consuming. As the show’s title suggests, these phenomena 
give us pleasures to look forward to, even dream about, in the course 
of our shopping routines; however, these pleasures are clouded by the 
regret and disenchantment we all experience with the failed purchase or 
unsuccessful shopping trip.

Danma’s goal is to construct a dialogue in which the dual nature of our 
uniquely American style of consumption—satisfaction and disappointment, 
raised hopes and lowered expectations—is explored in the relationships 
among the various pieces in the exhibition. As he writes in his 
curator’s statement, “The work in the show is pleasurable, easily 
identifiable, possibly kitsch. Yet despite the candy shell, it is 
conspicuously twisted and bittersweet.”

The Softer Side will feature work by Andy DuCett, Chelsea Fields, 
Kermit Gilbert, Ted Gournelos, Mariah Johnson, Jihyeon Lee, Danma, 
Rashelle Roos, and Meredith Warner. The show is being supported by 
local nonprofit akastatistic.org, and will be on view at 125 West Main 
Street in Urbana from March 4 through 13. Gallery hours will be from 
5:00 pm to 8:00 pm Monday through Friday, and 11:00 am to 5:00 pm on 
Saturday and Sunday. An opening reception will be held from 5:00 pm to 
9:00 pm on the evening of Friday,
March 4.


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