Jesse Butcher & Corkey Sinks
March 13 – March 28, 2010
CHICAGO: Concertina Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Surrender Dorothy, the first large-scale collaboration between artists Jesse Butcher and Corkey Sinks. Mining the tropes of adolescent identity, both artists share nostalgia—even obsession—for the stylized rebellion of teenage subcultures. While struggling to find their own place in society, teens often dabble in fringe elements of the mainstream as a form of escapism. Surrender Dorothy will transform three of Concertina’s rooms into disquieting retreats of familiar adolescent experiences.
The title of the exhibition is taken from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, referencing the scene in which the Wicked Witch of the West skywrites a threatening message, “Surrender Dorothy”, over the Emerald City. Foundational to many happy childhood memories over the past seventy years, this movie may also serve as a reminder that the rosiest of childhood memories are tinged with fear. References to books, films and music consumed in wood-paneled basements across America run throughout the exhibition–many evolving from myths that teenagers have appropriated for generations as a shelter from the storm of adolescence.
In the liminal space of adolescence, vestiges of childhood meet the teen scene. Throughout the exhibition, these transitional phases converge. A quilt made from band t-shirts contrasts a handmade racecar bed. Oversized “God’s Eyes” hang from the ceiling—unnerving in scale and sheer number—evoking happy episodes from summer camp. Along with video installations and makeshift tie-dye walls, each form in the installation recalls the irreverent contradictions of teenage years, and the residual effects they have in adulthood.
Jesse Butcher (b. 1982 in Germantown, TN) received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2005 and is currently in the Master's program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Butcher is a member of Austin-based Okay Mountain and MASS Gallery. He currently lives and works in Chicago.
Corkey Sinks (b. 1983 in Dallas, TX) received an integrated B.A. in Media Studies from the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at the University of Redlands, CA in 2005. Sinks is a partner of the Austin-based gallery and collective, Okay Mountain, and a founding member of the multimedia collective, Austin Video Bee. She currently lives and works in Chicago.
Artist links: