Take away the term’s mock lexicality (itself a parody of artspeak) and you have a staggering précis of today’s top-down creative churn.`
-Christian Viveros-Faune, “William Powhida Christens the “Overculture”, Village Voice
All of this suggests that resistance to “overculture”, whether in art or in writing, is noble but ultimately futile.
-Karen Rosenberg, “Glimpses of the Past and a High-Tech Future: A Critic’s Gallery Crawl Through Soho and Tribeca”, The New York Times
This work, like 2011’s “Griftopia,” suggests an ambition to find a way to articulate our vertiginous moment without stinting on its complexity, a graphic format with the potential to become an art of everything.
-Thomas Micchelli, “Like It Is: William Powhida at Postmasters”, Hyperallergic
The self-awareness of this show and its high level of skill left me with a sense for Powhida that was ultimately more profound and somber than comic.
-James Panero, Gallery Chronicle, The New Criterion Photo Credit:_ Installation view, “William Powhida: Overculture” at Postmasters Gallery (photo by the Thomas Micchelli for Hyperallergic)_
William Powhida Unretrospective Press Release May 1 to June 7, 2014 Artist’s Reception, Saturday, May 3, 11AM to 5PM Platform Gallery is pleased to present our third solo exhibition of works by William Powhida. It has been six years since Powhida’s last solo show at Platform. In that time he has continued his critique and dissection of both the art world and the financial world through text-based drawings and works on canvas including lists, charts, diagrams, instructions for the fabrication of “sculptures” and “paintings,” both as the persona “Powhida” as well as the actual artist William Powhida. His most recent exhibitions in New York (Derivatives and Overculture) and Los Angeles (Bill by Bill) have focused on the causes and effects of the financial crisis; the idea of artistic originality and outsourced fabrication of artworks in contemporary art; and the current frenzied art market flooded with oligarchs' abundance of money. Along with new drawings for the exhibition, Powhida is making republications of his past work available as original oil paintings made in a painting village in Shenzhen, China, to be painted in oil on canvas. Nods toward globalization, reproducibility, and the fabrication of artworks of an artist by other (anonymous) artists point to the discussion that at least one of the two Powhidas want the viewer (and collector) to consider. From his piece titled “Dear Seattle”: “After discussing a show where nothing would be for sale . . . we were informed that would be pretty . . . stupid. I’m all for some self sabotage but running a gallery isn’t FREE because RENT, LABOR, TIME, etc. Then Stephen told me about his trip to China and the painting village. We decided it would be great to do a kind of “Greatest Hits” show or a unRetrospective (the museums aren’t exactly lining up offers). Through the MAGIC of exploitive globalization we are able to offer “original” POWHIDA republications at PRICES you might be able to afford for a limited time (OR our inventory runs out in decades days). For your viewing pleasure and instant gratification, we’ve pre-ordered 5 BRILLIANT LISTS reflecting the trajectory of my artistic . . . GROWTH. You can also order ANYTHING off my website while the show is open following simple instructions. Please, just BUY something.”
Postmasters is pleased to present Overculture an exhibition of new works by William Powhida. The show will include paintings, sculptures, drawings, lists and charts. Overculture 1: (noun) 1.a small cultural group (artists) within the larger culture, often affirming the beliefs or interests of the ruling class (collectors). “The two parties thus engage in an uneasy courtship around unspoken divisions and unacknowledged aspirations, where each seeks the perceived (and performed) freedoms of the other." -David Geers (verb) 1. a negative or ambivalent feeling about culture often in relation to socio-economic conditions. (read more) from the press release
GUTS “Co-curated by George Terry and Jonathan Durham GUTS are the slippery viscera of courage, nerve, and audacity. Quite possibly the most vital trait an artist can have. The artists in this exhibition embrace the irreversibility of pushing themselves through the most narrow of passageways. The choices they make come with great risk of failure to materials, concept, reputation, and body. Risk takers, however, at times achieve the highest results and deserve the most respect.”
Jennifer McCoy joined me in hosting a discussion around higher education in the arts at Joe Riley, Casey Golan, and Victoria Sobel’s class They Can’t Kill Us All at Bruce High Quality Foundation. Here’s the introductory text. I also recently published a rather long-read on individual and collective property ownership on Big, Red, and Shiny. I have to thank editor John Pyper for prodding me to contribute to the journal. The piece was inspired by the work I’ve been doing with Jules deBalincourt, Paddy Johnson, and Lynn Sullivan to create stable studio space in New York. I also contributed a drawing proposal “The Yellow Building” to MoreArt.org’s project_ Envision NY 2017_. Artist Caroline Woolard also recently shared a link to her project bfamfaphd about organizing artists to make alternative investments in their own education and working conditions. Woolard’s project brings together these two incredibly important issues for artists and non-artists; property and education.
