Hudson (Show)Room Exhibition: Farm to Market

Robert Pruitt, Chris Sauter, and Allison Wiese
10.19.04

About the Artists and Exhibition
Traveling from country to city, any driver of American roads has no doubt passed a sign reading FM—Farm to Market. Such fluid paths between rural and urban space serve as the departure for this exhibition. It presents recent works by three Texans—Robert Pruitt, Chris Sauter, and Allison Wiese—who alternately employ sculpture, collage, photography, and architectural interventions to explore similarities and mythic differences between the two locales these roads connect.

Robert Pruitt uses found objects and materials—Norman Rockwell prints, crack vials, hair extensions—to question the perceived gap between suburban and urban culture. Through insertions, deletions, and juxtapositions, he rewrites traditional notions of our past and present landscape.

Included in this exhibition are examples from Pruitt's series reworking Norman Rockwell's ubiquitous depictions of a culturally and spatially divided society. In New Kiddz in the Hood the artist toys with the classic image of just-moved-in African-American youngsters warily meeting their new white neighbors. Using digital manipulation, Pruitt graffities the moving van with REVOLT and places the album Fear of a Black Planet on a nearby chair. As in other works, such as his ante-bellum Chandelier, fashioned out of crack vials, Pruitt's gesture of dislocation powerfully alters the expected scenario and puts pressure on the cultural disparity tethered to geographic boundaries.

Chris Sauter is known for reconfiguring suburban furniture into landscapes (a recliner turned mountain) and excising galleries to create ghostly Americana (dry wall turned
farmer's plow). Sauter explores the relationship between nature and culture— two realms often locked into rural and urban domains.

Sauter continues to question the connection, literally and figuratively, between country and city with Power Lines, a scaled-down series of electrical towers constructed of shafts of wheat. Another work locates a volcano, grain silos, a construction site, and city skyline all in a single plane. Sauter collides disparate worlds to suggest that technology/culture is built upon land/nature, and that the two must partner in order to coexist.

Similarly, Allison Wiese inserts elements traditionally associated with country living into metropolitan spaces. She has built an old-fashioned portico onto the façade of a modernist building and brought a flock of sheep to graze in the city. Wiese's works propose that rural and urban, often seen as opposing, have essential common denominators and are closer than frequently believed.

In Fort two picnic tables, a quintessential urban-meets-rural signifier, are propped up to create impromptu protection, as well as a pine cone-strewn social space. The sight recalls picnics past but not those in the wilderness. These lunches were in city parks or at roadside rest stops—places neither entirely rural nor urban. Coupled with Wiese's large-scale photo of a paintball in an exurban field and her homemade whisky still made out of superstore parts, the piece reminds that there is no clear boundary dividing rural/nature from urban/culture, but rather pockets of in-between and mingling.

The works by Robert Pruitt, Chris Sauter, and Allison Wiese in Farm to Market describe the interlinked spheres of rural and urban space. The artists challenge the assumed dichotomy between country and city, thereby romanticizing neither and acknowledging the complicated exchange of ideas and identities between the two.

Artists' Biographies
Robert Pruitt received his MFA in painting from the University of Texas at Austin, TX in 2003. He has had solo exhibitions at Celementine Gallery, New York, NY (2004), Galveston Art Center, TX (2003), and Project Row Houses, Houston, TX (2003). He was included in Splat Boom Pow!, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX (2003), and Come Forward, Dallas Museum of Art, TX (2003). Pruitt currently lives in Houston, TX.

Chris Sauter received his MFA in sculpture from the University of Texas at San Antonio, TX in 1996. He has had solo exhibitions at Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, NY (2004); at Art Basel | Miami Beach with Finesilver/FYI, FL (2003); and at Artpace San Antonio, TX (1999). He was included in Twang, Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX (2004), and Come Forward, Dallas Museum of Art, TX (2003). Sauter currently lives in San Antonio, TX.

Allison Wiese received her MFA in visual arts from the University of California at San Diego, CA in 2000. She has had solo projects at Sculpture Space, Utica, NY (2004); Women and Their Work, Austin, TX (2004); and Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX (2003). She was included in Texas Prime, DiverseWorks, Houston, TX (2004), and Siting Sculpture, Dallas Center for Contemporary Art, TX (2003). She is based in Houston, TX.

Exhibition Dates
October 28, 2004 – January 16, 2005

Opening Reception
Thursday, October 28, 6:30-8:00 PM
Gallery walk-thru with the artists at 7:00 PM

Brown Bag Lunch
Wednesday, November 17, 12:00-1:00 PM
Join Education and Curatorial Associate Kate Green for a tour of Farm to Market and a brown bag lunch provided by Sip ($6.50). Please call Artpace for menu and reservations.

Look For It
As part of a monthly partnership with the San Antonio Current, two related images by Robert Pruitt appear in the paper on October 21. The unidentified images challenge the notion that media images continue to have the power to provoke thought.

Event Location
All events held at ArtPace, 445 N. Main Avenue. Free parking at N. Flores and Savings Streets. ArtPace is open to the public Wednesday thru Sunday, 12-5 PM, Thursday 12-8 PM, and by appointment. There is no charge for admission.

About ArtPace
ArtPace, A Foundation for Contemporary Art | San Antonio serves as an advocate for contemporary art and as a catalyst for the creation of significant art projects. We seek to nurture emerging and established artists and to provide opportunities for inspiration, experimentation and education. Through our International Artist-in-Residence Program, we invite nine artists annually to participate in a two-month residency which supports the evolution of new ideas in art. Our broad range of panels, lectures, artist talks, and studio visits cultivates diverse audiences for contemporary art and provides a forum for ongoing dialogue.

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org