Conner Contemporary Art

MACO mēxico arte contemporāneo | international contemporary art fair

April 25 – 29, 2007

Conner Contemporary Art is delighted to participate in mēxico arte contemporāneo / international contemporary art fair where we will feature digital light sculpture by Leo Villareal, new paintings by Erik Sandberg and large-scale photographs by Maria Friberg. Recent work by Patricia Piccinini, Joe Ovelman, Mary Coble, and Julee Holcombe will also be exhibited.

> With the stunning "Solaris," LEO VILLAREAL continues to explore rule-based programs inspired by mathematician John Conway's Game of Life in his own custom software. The sculpture is filled with LED's (light emitting diodes) that are individually modulated to produce a palette of over 16 million different colors. In Solaris the artist arranges color, form and movement into organic patterns, never repeating the same sequence. 

> ERIK SANDBERG's large-scale figural oil paintings allegorize timeless vices (such as lust and greed), yet their contemporary tone imbues them with an intimate immediacy. Fully engaging the seductive power of his oil glaze medium, Sandberg conveys the warmth and tenderness of his model's flesh to instill his art with a revealing new accessibility. The artist's recent gallery exhibition was heralded by ArtForum.com (November 2007) as "tremendous achievements in figuration – masterfully painted and richly sculptural, they establish the artist as a worthy heir to John Currin and Lisa Yuskavage." 

> Breathtaking photographs by prominent Swedish artist MARIA FRIBERG deepen her celebrated exploration of constructs of male power. In "still lives 5" the artist captures the tension and playfully challenges our notions of car culture. Friberg's work is currently on view at Skövde Konsthall, Sweden and in Global Feminisms at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY.

> JOE OVELMAN creates artwork based on his personal experiences. In "Untitled (Joe Victim)," the artist shows his face battered and swollen, the victim of a 'hate' crime. Instead of playing with our sympathy for such a hideous crime, the artist treats his trauma with a certain sense of humor – placing his face on a piece of toast, drawing direct comparisons to such urban legends as The Virgin Mary appearing on a tortilla and Elvis appearing on a grilled cheese sandwich.

For further information on MACO: http://www.macomexico.com