ïh v ^ a rtla u h ffihserm
July 12,2000
Focus
Page 3
Over 80 artists reflect on today’s entertainment-
driven consumer society
CONTRIBUTED STORY
for
T he P ortland O bserver
In today’s entertainm ent-driven
consumer soc iety we are surrounded
by a massive overflow o f visual
stimuli - a sea o f images and
information generated by television,
movies, newspapers, magazines,
c a rto o n s,
b illb o a rd s
and
co m m e rc ia l p ack a g in g th at
transforms our everyday life into an
endless loop o f m ulti-sensory
sp e c ta c le s and fic tio n s. T he
P o rtla n d
A rt
M u se u m ’s
in tern atio n al e x h ib itio n L e t’s
E n te rta in , on view th ro u g h
September 17,2000, features work
by some artists from 17 countries
focused on the influences
o f entertainment on art
practices.
Organized by the Walker
A rt
C e n te r
in
M in n e a p o lis,
L e t’s
Entertain revolves around
the complex relationship
between pleasure, spectacle, poular
cu ltu re and contem porary art
through a diverse selection o f
artworks incorporating sculpture,
painting, video, installation, sound,
the Internet, fashion and games.
These artists use entertainment
strategies as a means o f critiquing
our pleasure-based culture, as well
as a way to employ a common
language, a shared culture.
From Cindy Sherman’s seminal
series Untitled Film Stills (1977-
1980) to Piotr Uklanski’s disco
dance floor, many pieces investigate
and challenge the role that popular
media and amusements have played
in our lives. Also included are
episodes o f the cable television
programs “Andy W arhol’s TV”
(1981) and "Andy Warhol ’s Fifteen
M inutes” (1987) that feature 1980s
celebrities ranging from Divine to
Debbie Harry, and a pioneering
video work by Dara Bimbaum,
T e c h n o lo g y /T ra n s fo rm a t ion:
W onder W om an (1987-1979),
which manipulates and reinterprets
clips from the popular television
series.
In the past 25 years, artists have
explored entertainment icons as
emblems o f voluptous abandon or
subtle melancholy. On view in the
e x h ib itio n are J e f f K o o n s'
polychromed wood Buster Keaton
(Please see ‘E n te rta in ’ page 4)
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