Exhibit Examines Society's Interactions With the Mundane
October 23, 2018 | By Drefnie Limprevil
The “ICA Collection: Entangled in the Everyday” exhibition, held at the Institute of Contemporary Art, examines society’s interactions with everyday objects. While some artists featured in the exhibit left the objects and images unfettered, others crafted objects into more obscure pieces with representative meanings. The common theme running through the exhibit is an elicitation of fascination and deep meaning from the mundane.


Photos by Drefnie Limprevil
The exhibit is organized in a maze-like fashion, allowing the viewer to wander through and look at diverse works of art. To the right of the entrance to the exhibit is a framed set of images and a dense and vividly colored collage. These frames make up Ellen Gallagher’s “DeLuxe” (2004-05), a set of images that feature vintage magazine advertisements showing the problematic nature of products aimed at black consumers. The latter is Arturo Herrera’s, “Hasen” (2011), whose bright and bold paint strokes captivate and force the viewer to find definition amidst the chaos.
Further into the exhibit is Tara Donovan’s “Nebulous” (2008), a large, snow-like sculpture that lies on the floor. Donovan, known for her sculptures containing everyday objects including straws, straight pins, and buttons, created this piece using only tape. Further on are paintings, photographs, and digital media. One photograph, Anthony Hernandez’s piece, “Discarded #5, Near Brawley, California” (2012-15), features a man amidst his belongings on a bus, staring at the camera. The title of the image haunts the viewer as they make eye contact with the person that society has ignored and symbolically discarded. In Robert Pruitt’s painting, “Woman with X-Patterned Dress (After Bill Traylor)” (2007), you look at the portrait of a woman who doesn’t acknowledge there is an audience. These two pieces bring about a nice balance of how we view everyday objects; we often ignore or don’t mind them, even as we stare them in the face.
