Capitalism and its Need for the Underclass
PART 2 OF THE VIRUS OF DEHUMANIZATION SERIES
Discussion Panel: Thursday, October 15, 2020 @ 6PM (POSTPONED TBA)
press release
As much as we’d like to think of ourselves as autonomous free beings, we are governed by various ideological, economic, social and political systems that ultimately determine our true freedom. Freedom can be too much. The negative psychological impact of modern life is the result of trading in our intellectual, creative, and compassionate expression and unique potential, for the intolerable feeling of aloneness. We have everything, except the ability to relate to anything or anyone. Increasingly alone and isolated, dogmas however absurd and degrading to ourselves or others, can become refuge from isolation if it only promises a connection.
History has taught us many such lessons but progress is usually accompanied by resistance from those who do not want their own lives altered, at everyone else's expense. Who have our modern political and economic trends marginalized instead of protected? Who are the minorities unable to fully participate in this free state? People of color, immigrants, women, LGBTQ, the young, the old, the sick, the disabled, the homeless, the poor, the creative, the intellectual...? Can the entire population be a minority? Can we truly expect our future to carry the multitude of voices whose contributions, creativity and potential we are all currently robbed of, without challenging Capitalism’s need for the underclass and exploitation?
“Modern man still is anxious and tempted to surrender his freedom to dictators of all kinds, or to lose it by transforming himself into a small cog in a machine, well fed, and well clothed, yet not a free man but an automation.” - Erich Fromm, ‘Escape From Freedom’
Curated by: Tina Stipanovic, Diana Alsip, and Tim Kelly
Yelena Tylkina · Aileen Bassis · Weihui Lu · Jaime Bautista · Adina Andrus · Patricia Dahlman · Kyle McMindes · Debra Zechowski · Dionisios Kavvadias
AILEEN BASSIS Helping Himself,16 x 16", 2015, (Print Collage with Mixed Media)
JAIME BAUTISTA Dead End, 2020 (digital)
AILEEN BASSIS Wait and Hope, 16 x 16", 2016, (Print Collage with Mixed Media)
JAIME BAUTISTA The Chosen Ones, 2020 (digital)
AILEEN BASSIS Sink or Swim, 16 x 16", 2016, ( Print Collage with Mixed Media)
JAIME BAUTISTA The Boneyard, 2020 (digital)
WEIHUI LU Fear Study II, 12” x 30”, 2020 (acrylic on canvas)
WEIHUI LU Griefscape II, 46” x 96”, 2020 (acrylic on canvas)
WEIHUI LU Fear Study I, 24” x 24”, 2020 (acrylic on canvas)
ADINA ANDRUS No Good, 63” x 30”, 2018 (ink, acrylic, paper and copper on canvas)
ADINA ANDRUS Radioactive, 60” x 33”, 2018 (ink, acrylic, paper and copper on canvas)
ADINA ANDRUS Silent Mode, 67” x 28”, 2018 (ink, acrylic, paper and copper on canvas)
DEBRA ZECHOWSKI Princess on the Stove, 84” x 96”, 2011 (acrylic on canvas)
PATRICIA DAHLMAN Trump’s Wall, 15” x 22”, 2018 (fabric, thread on paper)
KYLE McMINDES,“20% Sad” - 2020, Acrylic on Cardboard - amongst my loose change
Fingering the Pandemic, (link to full story)
PATRICIA DAHLMAN Trump’s America With Vomit and Blue Stars, 39” x 14”, 2020 (canvas, fabric, thread)
PATRICIA DAHLMAN Wall Prototype: Immigration Barrier, 108” x 16” x 3”, 2018 (canvas, fabric, thread)
KYLE McMINDES Custom Tip, 2020 (acrylic on cardboard)
YELENA TYLKINA Queen of The Burning House/A depiction of the inner struggle to find happiness, 48” x 30”, 2005 (acrylic on canvas)
KYLE McMINDES Abundance, 2020 (acrylic on cardboard)
YELENA TYLKINA Masks Off/Real faces of society, 48” x 36”, 2020 (acrylic on canvas)
KYLE McMINDES Corona Boiz, 2020 (acrylic on cardboard)
YELENA TYLKINA The Bubble King/A portrait of Donald Trump, 36” x 36”, 2017 (acrylic on canvas)
DIONISIOS KAVVADIAS Co$t, 8.5” x 11”, 2007 (pencil, ink, color pencil, marker)
DIONISIOS KAVVADIAS Memorial, 8.5” x 11”, 2003 (pencil, ink, color pencil, marker)
DIONISIOS KAVVADIAS December, 8.5” x 11”, 2007 (pencil, ink, color pencil, marker)
If you are interested in purchasing work that is included in this exhibition, please reach out to the curator for availability.
Tina Stipanovic - tina@alterworkstudios.com