Monologue: A solo exhibition by Garrick Imatani

April 3 - May 1, 2021 | UO Center for Art Research at ANTI-AESTHETIC, Eugene, OR

Artist:

Garrick Imatani

Overview: 

Garrick Imatani’s project Monologue examines the forces that inform and shape perceptions of non-dominant cultural identities. Through an examination of his own Japanese cultural heritage, Imatani creates objects and iconographies that use direct observation or online engagement to setup an alternative punchline. With his project he questions the aesthetics of assimilation and authenticity, as well as the contemporary and conceptual which continue to situate works within co-opted art historical references. View virtual interactive gallery here: https://monologue.glitch.me/ (viewable on laptop and desktop only)

This exhibition is organized as part of Dismantling the House, a series of public programs and exhibitions curated by Yaelle S. Amir, for the Center for Art Research at the University of Oregon, as part of her 2020-21 Curator-in-Residence appointment. This series is made possible by generous support from the Ford Family Foundation.

about the exhibition:

Garrick Imatani’s project Monologue examines the forces that inform and shape perceptions of non-dominant cultural identities. Through an examination of his own Japanese cultural heritage, Imatani creates objects and iconographies that use direct observation or online engagement to setup an alternative punchline. With his project he questions the aesthetics of assimilation and authenticity, as well as the contemporary and conceptual which continue to situate works within co-opted art historical references. The objects and prints comprising this installation question both the dominant canon and inclusionary and equity constructs – first enforced by colonialist aesthetics and further perpetuated within institutional frameworks and scholarship. In creating interactive objects layered with humorous imagery, Imatani seeks to diffuse the notion of an intangible “essence” of a culture—inviting instead a de-centralized, intricate and multifaceted reading of cultural properties beyond one’s own.

About the Artist:

Garrick Imatani is an artist who uses performance, functional objects, or interaction to draw attention to one’s embodied subjectivity. Working in sculpture, photography, video and installation, recent projects focus on reimagining racialized historical erasures into more believable and inspired futures. Past works have included collaborating with illegally-surveilled activists to readjust city archives, re-enacting labor on the transcontinental railroad, and working with the Grand Ronde tribe to replicate their sacred meteorite held in the American Museum of Natural History. His work has been exhibited at the Blaffer Art Museum (Houston), Triumph Gallery (Moscow), Art in General (NYC), Disjecta Contemporary Art Center (Portland, OR), Chachalu Museum (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, OR), Art, Design and Architecture Museum at UC Santa Barbara, and Portland Museum of Art (ME), among others. He has received grant support from The Andy Warhol Foundation, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, The Ford Family Foundation, Oregon Arts Commission, Maine Arts Commission, Regional Arts & Culture Council and Oregon Percent for Art. Imatani holds an MFA from Columbia University, NY and resides in Portland, OR where he is an Associate Professor and Chair of Foundation at Pacific Northwest College of Art.

About the series:

…the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those (…) who still define the master’s house as their only source of support. – Audre Lorde, 1979

In the face of a global pandemic, an escalating climate crisis and a social uprising – governments, corporations, and society’s various institutions have wielded their authority forcefully and with little compromise. Abuses of power have seeped into every aspect of our lives—from financial stability, physical and mental health, and personal safety to our social well-being, sovereignty, and sense of hope. Yet, while felt more acutely in 2020, for many the impact of these crises has persisted for decades – an escalation of ongoing challenges. As we watch capitalist considerations further risk and control the safety and welfare of individuals worldwide, it is evermore clear that our society must unlearn its ways.

The series of programs Dismantling the House presents the ways in which the dominance asserted by those holding onto power has been felt continuously by communities across generations and geographies.  The participating artists look inwards to their experiences, outwards to our collective practices, back to historical precedents and forward to visions of culture unraveling itself. The programs propose ways of viewing and claiming agency over our present so that new strategies, systems and infrastructures can take form.

Read about the other projects in the series here.