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Cute & Creepy
An Exhibition at the Florida State University Museum
By Claire Fenton
This Fall, the Florida State University Museum in Tallahassee presents “Cute & Creepy,” an exhibition that explores the aesthetics of the grotesque through the work of 25 contemporary artists, notably: Kris Kuksi, Lori Field, Kate Clark, Heidi Taillefer, Mark Hosford, Laurie Lipton, Timothy Cummings, Richard Kirk, and Chris Mars. The exposition, which mainly includes works by Pop Surrealist artists, is curated by artist Carrie Ann Baade.
Kris Kuksi, A New Divinity, 2007, mixed media assemblage, 36"×36"×9½"
Since the days of Romanticism, the concept of beauty has moved away from traditional classic canons, asserting the grotesque and the macabre upon presenting them not as the negation of beauty, but rather as its other face. It is precisely Pop Surrealism -which on occasion embraces the Goth subculture- that often cultivates this type of aesthetic.
This attitude towards the hideous and the gruesome constitutes a response to a feeling of despair at a time of both economic and ideological instability. Just as during Romanticism a penchant for the sinister was a response to man’s religious and existential crises at the beginning of the 19th century, artists included in “Cute & Creepy” establish motifs and scenes that move away from the traditional concepts of beauty in response to the current crises of values and ideologies suffered by contemporary man. The individual delves inside himself to search for vital elements that he cannot obtain from his surroundings. However, his inner being often reveals a terrible and absurd image that is nothing more than the reflection of how he perceives reality.
The success of recent shows -Tim Burton at the MOMA and Edward Gorey at the Wadsworth Athenaeum- were catalysts that led to the realization of “Cute & Creepy” as a curatorial project. Carrie Ann Baade says in this respect: “Work of this nature is not going to be an underground movement any longer: the grotesque is going mainstream.”
Lori Field, Do You Like My Hat?, colored pencil and encaustic.
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“Cute & Creepy” is perhaps one of the most interesting offerings this season in Florida. It is an exhibition directed at the informed spectator sensitive to his surroundings. In this respect the curator notes: “To see beauty in the carnivalesque or macabre, in freaks and in monsters, is a matter of aesthetics. Most of us can agree on the artistic value of a Monet or Titian but this work is for a daring audience, an audience open to exploring the strange beauty and the ecstasy inherent in our culture’s aversions.”
The works included in this show contain a beauty that at times appears unsettling and terrible, but that knows how to dispel the public’s horror by resorting irony and sarcasm.
“Cute & Creepy” is on view at the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts. 250 Fine Arts Building. Tallahassee, FL, 32306 / www.mofa.fsu.edu (October 14 - November 20, 2011)
Claire Fenton is an arts writer based in Miami.
