CRASH! E-Type Jag, TransAm, Crab

“Crash! is an interpretation of the brevity of life where nature, life and machine collide, where the seemingly never ending cycle of nature appears as unyielding with the passing of seasons. Yet I have experienced first hand, as have many others, having grown up with the seasons (especially along the highway at East End, Grand Cayman), that such an encounter with nature can be a traumatic confrontation resulting with nature squandered, and not without a cost, where both parties are the afflicted. Crash! calls out that it’s more than an occurrence, and such a clash between the vulnerability of nature with the machine and development, with little consideration, a devastating result. This work is signaling the inevitable between man and environment, here a crab with the car. Who’s to suffer most?”

-Elizabeth Paige Smith

“As a critical term, ‘Pop’ is closely associated with the namesake art movement that rose to prominence in the early 1960s, producing some of the best known works of twentieth century art defined by the mundane copying and ironic appropriation of the subjects, materials, and everyday imagery of popular culture.

With this in mind, Pop and the Popular examines recent developments in contemporary Caymanian art, identifying key traits and thematic connections in the work of artists who demonstrate an affinity with the stylistic characteristics and subject matter typically associated with a Pop art aesthetic. In drawing these threads of connection between diverse artists working in a variety of media, the exhibition seeks to map the conditions of a distinctly Caymanian expression of ‘Pop’ rooted in the visual landscape of contemporary Cayman: vibrant, saturated colours; the use of reclaimed and recycled materials; the clash of the old and the new, and the erosion of cultural traditions in the face of globalisation and the homogenising influence of American consumer culture. The use of parody and humour, as well as the inherent potential for commentary on contemporary socio-political issues, have likewise both emerged as defining aspects of this prevailing aesthetic tendency.

While seeking to define the characteristics of this emergent trend, Pop and the Popular also looks to address questions of personal and collective identity by examining the ways in which artists explore their conception of self through their identification with culture both locally and globally, acknowledging the ways in which identity is ultimately mediated and shaped by broader, transcultural trends.”

-William Helfrecht, Curator