Two of my drawings are included in the group show Cute Gloom at Lauren Powell Projects that examines “the harmonies and tensions between the aesthetic category of cute and its counterpart gloom.”
From the gallery,
In the hyper commodified world that we live in, cuteness is an aesthetic category frequently employed to sell products ranging from electronics accessories to sponges to cars. The cuteness of these products underscores their subordinate nature; they exist to serve us, or, as scholar Sianne Ngai characterizes it, cuteness is “a way of aestheticizing powerlessness.” A confrontation with this helplessness has the power to produce a wide range of emotions from the viewer, from tenderness and a desire to care for the cute thing to aggression and a desire to destroy it. The dichotomous nature of these responses is also present within the characteristics of the cute thing itself. The helpless is often the most likely to lash out. The baby rattlesnake is the most dangerous. Beware the wounded animal.