Telepathy Is One Step Further Than Empathy
Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA)
On view September 24, 2020 – June 6, 2021
ocma.art/alexandra-grant-telepathy-is-one-step-further-than-empathy/
Curated by Cassandra Coblentz
Telepathy Is One Step Further Than Empathy draws together Alexandra Grant’s studio-based work as a painter and sculptor with her philanthropic work through the grantLOVE project. As the title suggests, Grant’s exhibition explores her ideas about mutual generosity and exchange. For Grant, love has the power to move beyond empathy and can be considered a form of telepathy, which does not privilege one individual over another, but rather is equal and reciprocal. Grant’s large-scale works on paper and mixed-media works from her Antigone 3000 series take as their starting point the quote “I was born to love not to hate” from Sophocles’ play Antigone. By repeating the text and through bold mark-making, Grant evokes the selflessness of Antigone’s statement, which she makes as she sacrifices her life for someone else. The exhibition features Grant’s large-scale works on paper, smaller works on paper, and a series of neon paintings. In addition, she has created two new neon works that hang outside the museum, adjacent to the gallery and visible through a window.
Grant takes her exhibition “one step further” by installing a grantLOVE pop-up shop in the lobby of OCMA. grantLOVE supports artists and nonprofits through the sale of prints, sportswear, and jewelry. Sale proceeds for this incarnation of grantLOVE will support the acquisition of art by underrepresented artists for the museum’s collection. By giving to the museum and fellow artists, Grant draws upon a history of artists operating retail spaces within museums to question the roles of institutions and artists in defining the value of art.
Image above: Alexandra Grant, She Said to Creon (13), 2020. Acrylic paint, acrylic ink, sumi ink, collage, screenprinting and colored pencil on paper mounted on fabric, 80” x 72”. I was born to love not to hate (9), 2018. Acrylic paint, acrylic ink, sumi ink, collage, wax rubbing and colored pencil on paper mounted on fabric, 47” x 35”. Antigone 3000 (2), 2018. Acrylic paint, acrylic ink, sumi ink, collage, wax rubbing and colored pencil on paper mounted on fabric, 106” x 72″. Antigone 3000 (1), 2018. Acrylic paint, acrylic ink, sumi ink, collage, wax rubbing and colored pencil on paper mounted on fabric, 106” x 72”. Telepathy is One Step Further than Empathy (installation view) 2020-2021; Orange County Museum of Art, Santa Ana, CA. Photo: @ofphotographystudio.
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