Reception: ICONIC: Apogees of Art + Culture

ICONIC : Apogees of Art + Culture

A reception will be held during Albuquerque’s Artwalk on Friday, August 2, from 5-8 pm. The exhibition will be on view at FUSION with an open house hoested by lapic Room every Saturday from August 3–24, 2024 or by appointment.

We are all a culmination of unique experiences and influences that, once distilled, create our own personal style. In our contemporary world, we are passively exposed to a barrage of visuals and sounds through pop culture, designed curriculums, and infinite advertisement, but how does this influence contemporary art and ideas?

In this show, several important local artists pay tribute to the greats of art and culture through their own respective styles. While consciously acknowledging their admiration or influence from contemporary + historic icons, these artists shape their distinct voices and create powerful perspectives. With the fusion of each new idea, a microculture is uncovered, and in turn, new icons are revealed.

“I started noticing something [all my favorite artists] had in common—they all copied each other… I realized that this is what artists are supposed to do—communicate back and forth with each other over the generations, take old ideas and make them new (since it’s impossible to really “imitate” somebody without adding anything of your own), create a rich, shared cultural language that was available to everybody. Once I saw it in folk art, I saw it everywhere – in hip-hop, in street art, in dada. I became convinced that the soul of culture lay in this kind of weird, irreverent-but-reverent backs-and-forth.” –Will Sheff, singer

Featured Artists:
Joshua Patterson
Jesse Littlebird
Adam Bustamante
Bryce Nañez
Dave Weirdly
Kyle Maier
Noé Barnett
Rachel Tapia