Join us for the final reception for Joe Hedges’ solo exhibit, Hypercombines, at the Chase Gallery! Techno Logic Synth Culture will be bringing the music and helping us celebrate this fantastic show! First Friday reception from 4 to 7 p.m.
For all its convenience, resources, and novelty, for many the smart phone has also brought constant distraction and stress. This is among many themes explored in an upcoming solo exhibition at the Chase Gallery by Pullman-based artist Joe Hedges. Hedges’ “Hypercombines” are part oil painting on canvas and part new media sculpture. As he writes in his artist statement for the exhibit, he is “seeking to contribute to a contemporary dialogue about the role of art, the influence of the internet and the boundary between digital and physical realms.”
The exhibition which contains oil paintings as well as screens and digital devices, often juxtaposing the two approaches to art-making in such a way as to call attention to our inability to focus on events right in front of us. Works present landscapes or figures, but with interruptions or foregrounding of contemporary tech. The effect is that the viewer may have difficulty focusing on the painted scene, just as many smart phone users have trouble focusing on the scene or subject at hand due to the constant barrage of notifications and the addictive properties of social media and screen-based entertainment.
Joe Hedges: Hypercombines at the Chase Gallery, lower level, Spokane City Hall, 808 W Spokane Falls Blvd.
Exhibit open January 3 – March 25
Gallery hours: Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. plus monthly First Friday receptions; 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.