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Les récents dessins « contestataires » présentés pour l'exposition montrent des manifestants brandissant des panneaux dont les messages tels que « WE NEED WORK » sont inlassablement répétés. Chaque oeuvre est intitulée d'après le nom d'une ville américaine, comme pour souligner l'étendue et l'urgence du problème. Mais bien que certains dessins soient teintés d'humour noir, un optimisme sous-jacent traverse les oeuvres de l'artiste. Les gens ordinaires qui y sont représentés sourient gentiment, ils oeuvrent au changement à travers l'action directe et les manifestations, leur masse venant remplir la surface de l'oeuvre, et leurs pancartes traduisant leurs exigences, espoirs et désirs. D'autres dessins qui mettent en scène nazis, membres du Ku Klux Klan, princes de la finance, terroristes et dirigeants politiques d'aujourd'hui, viennent construire des récits allégoriques, dresser de complexes théories de conspiration, et façonner des satires politiques. Les oeuvres de Michael Patterson-Carver se consacrent aussi bien aux luttes actuelles qu'historiques, et traitent à la fois des sujets politico-culturels contemporains que de l'hypocrisie du passé et des injustices du présent. En abordant des luttes pour des droits essentiels que nous croyons souvent pour acquis, l'oeuvre de Michael Patterson-Carver est une invitation à l'action. ----------------------- Michael Patterson-Carver was born in Chicago in 1958. His mother’s heroin addiction led to estrangement from her family and Michael was raised by an adoptive family. As a result, one of the artist’s formative childhood memories is of attending an African-American church during the civil rights struggle. Patterson-Carver has since been a lifelong activist, working for various causes ranging from environmental protection to social justice. Since 2007, Patterson-Carver has had solo exhibitions at White Columns, New York; Small A Projects, Portland, OR; and Sorry We’re Closed in Brussels. In 2008, Patterson-Carver was the recipient of the Altoids Award and had an exhibition at the New Museum in New York. In 2009 he was choosen by artist Rikrit Tiravanija for a group show at the Salvador Diaz Gallery in Spain. Michael Patterson-Carver’s drawings are a candid and direct look at the political realm, dividing into two distinct genres: those that represent ordinary men and woman, and others that represent well-known world leaders and power mongers. In the first genre, the recent “protest” drawings presented at the exhibition depict marchers with signs that read consistent messages as “WE NEED WORK”. Each piece is titled after an American city, as if to emphasize the breadth and urgency of the problem. While some of the drawings show dark humor, there is an underlying optimism to the work. The ordinary people represented are gently smiling, working for change through direct action and demonstration, their collective mass filling the picture plane, topped by placards voicing their demands, hopes and desires. Other drawings illustrate nazis, klansmen, robber barons and terrorists meeting current day political leaders, and depict allegorical narratives, complex conspiracy theories and political satire. They address current and historical struggles and in this way exhibit both ongoing themes of cultural and political repression and the hypocrisy of past and present injustices. Depicting battles for inalienable rights that we often take for granted, Patterson-Carver’s work is a call to action. In the words of the artist “in order to succeed ay anything the first step you must take is to BELIVE. This is the reason that everyone at my demonstration is smiling- they are confident of success. The future is not something that just happens to us- we are in the act of creating it as you read this. Lets make it a good one !” |
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 St Louis, 2009. Ink, pencil, watercolor on paper. 38 x 51cm |
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 Vue d'exposition |
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 Vue d'exposition |
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