An installation of several thousand handmade ceramic objects and several hundred jars of local produce canned by the artist, Breaking Even expands upon Kelli Rae Adams's ongoing investigations of materiality, process, labor, and value. In this project for the Bell Gallery and her first solo exhibition, Adams addresses the current economic moment, particularly as it relates to creative endeavors, offering a participatory inquiry into the nature of value and the mechanisms through which we receive and quantify the work and energies of others.
Curated by Ian Alden Russell
Image: Kelli Rae Adams, Mizaru, Kikazaru, Iwazaru [Detail], 2010
An accomplished hyper-realistic draftsman in many mediums, San Antonio-based artist Vincent Valdez composes portraits and scenes that appear to promise historical representation, factual narrative, and, perhaps, truth. His works are, however, fantasies whose misleadingly realistic depiction belie committed and sincere critiques of masculinity, gender roles, and social and political orders. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design in 2000, Valdez has exhibited extensively in Texas, the Midwest, the Southwest, and Los Angeles. This exhibition marks his solo debut on the East Coast.
Curated by Ian Alden Russell
Image: Vincent Valdez, Any Day Now, I Shall Be Released, 2003