Tuesday, October 30, 2007

The 9-to-5 artist

There's a great show closing this coming Sunday at A.P.E.'s Gallery 2 in Northampton. Titled "Way, Shape, Form," the exhibit showcases recent works by Heather Kasunick, Michael Lewy, and Craig Lupien, all of whom are interested in exploring "ideas of how work habits both as artists and as 9-to-5 employees are manifested in what they produce in the studio." Check it out before it's too late!

Jamaica Plain's Michael Lewy, about whom I've written for Ideas once or twice, holds down an administrative job at MIT. His workaday angst has been expressed via subversive PowerPoint charts, which have been collected in a book ("Chart Sensation") and also featured in the 2005 DeCordova Annual. Here's his video of the A.P.E. gallery exhibit.

Recently, Lewy has been subverting another kind of workplace software -- SketchUp, which architects and others use to create and share 3D models -- for an ambitious project, soon-to-be-fully realized online art project called "City of Work."

Alas, City of Work is a dystopian place. Although everything there is shiny and new, the gates to the city, emblazoned with the CITY OF WORK logo, remind one of the gates to Auschwitz, with their slogan, "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" (Work Brings Freedom). Not only that, but it's mandatory to have your Human Potential tested. Watch the video or the slideshow -- that's Lewy himself in the lead role. White-collar workers everywhere, visit the City of Work and reevaluate your lives!

Posted by Joshua Glenn at 01:04 PM

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