Serious Art
by Michael Fallon
Here’s a truism of modern art: Every new generation of emerging young artists is convinced it will reinvent the culture. And, strangely enough, they all go about this reinvention pretty much in the same way: By making a bunch of meaningless noise. Think of Tristan Tzara here, and his poems that go nowhere. Think of Jackson Pollock’s random splotches and drips. Think of the long and ambling filmic experiments of Warhol’s Factory. It’s not surprising, then, that the upcoming show “Serious Art” at First Amendment Arts of work by young artists Michael Gaughan and the group that calls itself Hardland/Heartland traffics in the realm of the bizarre and incongruous. Even the PR material are in on the act, abecedarianally describing the show as, “absurd, barbaric, concerning, despicable, entertaining, flippant, gregarious, half-baked, intellectual, jarring, knowledgeable, ludicrous, mellifluous, non-sensical, outlandish, perplexing, quadrangular, ridiculous, subversive, typical, urban, verbose, whimsical, xeroxed, yawn, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz boring.” What this means, likely, is a colorful and head-scratching aggregation of colorful drawings, collages, paintings, installations, hand-made books, music, and fashions.
The Serious Art opening party, which includes musical performances by Gaughan and members of Hardland/Heartland, takes place on Saturday, July 12, 7 – 10 pm. Admission is free. First Amendment Art is at 1101 Stinson Blvd (in basement rooms A & B) in Northeast Minneapolis.