INDY Week |
Mary Ann Anderson's "A Process of Engagement "
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2015 CHAPEL HILL ACKLAND MUSEUM STORE—Chapel Hill artist Mary Ann Anderson's participatory installation at the Ackland Museum Store is unlike most exhibits: You are encouraged to touch the work. Many small paintings flow and curl across the walls in a shape like a Japanese brush stroke. Visitors remove (and keep, for $2) a painting of their choice, then replace it with a different one. The collective curation has been in process since mid-April, and this artist's reception at the midpoint marks a pivot. Afterward, visitors will begin to remove elements without replacing them, slowly dismantling the exhibit until May 31. The paintings, cut-up larger works, are influenced by Asian art and its expertise in the ephemeral. A fascinating enactment of transience, the show bursts forth, grows, and then decays until not a trace remains, mirroring the arcs and eventual fates of the things we make and the lives we live. To get ahead of the curve, an artist might as well just cut up her work and give it away. 6–8 p.m., free, 101 S. Columbia St., Chapel Hill, 919-966-5736, www.ackland.org/shop.—Brian Howe |