The work in the Ackland Art Museum’s latest show transforms the familiar into the fantastic, the mundane into the marvelous.
“The Spectacular of Vernacular” opens today, as the Ackland celebrates the transformation of commonplace, regional items into whimsically creative contemporary art.
The show — which runs for the next two months — features 25 leading contemporary artists. The Ackland is the final venue on the show’s tour and the only venue in the Southeast.
Curators from the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis organized the exhibition with the intent to embrace the rustic charm and discordant clash of surroundings that often go unnoticed — like an antique car lodged in overgrown grass and vines and excessively flashy signs for motels.
The artists used a combination of conventional art materials and items from everyday life to create paintings and sculptures. These, along with video and photography, will send viewers on a road trip through regions of the U.S.
Emily Bowles, the Ackland’s director of communications, said the show will invoke meanings that viewers associate with their social, cultural and regional homes.
“As demonstrated by the artists in this exhibition, a whole host of emotions — pleasure, nostalgia, anxiety, etcetera — can be expressed creatively through everyday objects,” Bowles said.
Peter Nisbet, chief curator at the Ackland, said that the presentation will be rich and stimulating.
“It’s a show that allows our students and other visitors to think about what is the relationship between their own local, regional cultures and contemporary art,” he said.
