Details:
① Artwork:
Antarctic (Speculative Fiction)
Part of the artist's series Possibilities for Representation, this painting is part of an exploration of climate change and the ideological forces of its denial. Antarctica (Speculative Fiction) is an unromantic representation of dwindling glacial ice and rising sea levels. Alongside the work Antarctica (Realism), it portends a dystopian future if our society does not see the problem clearly, unclouded by dangerous mythologies.
Powhida's work is a satirical and frequently political look into his own experience of New York’s contemporary art market. He frequently overlaps references to different discourses to explore the contradictory nature of art making today. This painting finds additional context in the viewers' awareness of the existential threat of the climate crisis.
Specs:
③ Artist:
For more than a decade, William Powhida’s work has provided a satirical, political and sometimes despairing window into New York’s contemporary art market. He overlaps multiple discourses in his paintings, referencing art history alongside ecological activism and other social issues. A former art critic, Powhida examines the contradictory and sometimes farcical contours of “contemporary art.”
BIO:
William Powhida was born in 1976 in New York City.
Exhibitions showing Powhida’s work include: Twenty Twenty at The Aldrich Contemporary Museum of Art in Ridgefield, Connecticut (2020); Complicities at Postmasters Gallery in New York City (2019); After ‘After the Contemporary’ at Charlie James Gallery in Los Angeles, California; and After the Contemporary at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut (2017).
