Bryan Leister

anti-matter: recontextualizing the material is an exhibition curated by Susan Serafin and myself for the Maryland Art Place’s 5th Annual Curator’s Incubator project in the fall of 2007 in Baltimore, Maryland.

In our collective freefall into a new digital culture, new kinds of interactions and communication are replacing familiar ones. It’s not surprising that artists are coming to terms with the conflicting feelings of anticipation, isolation, instability, anonymity and material consumption. Through recombinant technology, whether digitally based or not, these artists reflect a yearning for familiar ground in a changing landscape.

The six artists included in anti-matter: recontextualizing the material all use materials in an individualistic way that emphasizes process, instability and familiarity. The incorporation of high and low materials by artists represents a shift in attitudes towards the conventional that is culturally significant and personal at the same time. The work of Suzanna Fields, Helen Frederick, Alberto Gaitan, Morgan Kennedy, Susan Noyes and Jennie Thwing are representative of how artists are searching for new interpretations and meanings from common materials.

Curators: Bryan Leister & Susan Serafin, artists: Suzanna Fields, Helen Frederick, Alberto Gaitan, Morgan Kennedy, Susan Noyes and Jennie Thwing; exhibited: 2007