Pattern & Decoration

Anoka Faruqee, Andrea Higgins, Driss Ouadahi, Nicole Phungrasamee Fein, Elise Adibi, Gerhard Mayer, Stefan KŸrten, Jutta Haeckel, Julie Chang, Jonathan Brand, Reed Danziger, Susan Marie Dopp, Jacob el Hanani, Joan Grubin, Melinda Hackett, Marietta Hoferer, Dorothy Napangardi, Gay Outlaw, Lordy Rodriguez, Brian Wasson, Crystal Liu & Jeremy Stenger.

The "Pattern and Decoration" movement of the 1970s arose in response to the emergence of Minimalism and its strictures. It derived in part from Pop Art's exuberant cultural mining and partly from feminist theorists' re-thinking of traditional hierarchies. It expressed a renewed interest in "craft" and a sense that the inviolate distinction between the "fine arts" and "decorative arts" was artificial. Motifs from textiles, architecture and ceramics were appropriated and applied to painting according to the aesthetics of 20th-century formalism. Although the "P&D" movement was dismissed by many as "lightweight," its influence can be seen more and more in contemporary work. This exhibition explores the use of pattern as a tool for expression by a new generation of artists. (Hosfelt Gallery)