Sunday, September 3, 2006
OC Register

A conceptual exhibition looks at our country's evolving visual, psychological and political landscapes.
By LIZ GOLDNER

Exhibit: The changing face of America


A journey taken by two art students from L.A. to NYC in 1970 - to unearthvignettes, icons and sounds of America- later became the genesis for anexhibition tracking our country's changing face, its homogenization andglobalization. The young men's trip was also a graduate research projectdesigned to meet art professionals, curators and gallery owners in New York. That drive by Cal State Fullerton students Michael Davis and Stephen Moore was a rite of passage, an existential undertaking necessitating a subsequent trip 35 years later. In 2005, the more mature artists took a mirror tripfrom NYC to L.A., witnessing the transition from homespun signage tocorporate logos, from unique homes to mass housing. The pair recorded these visual and psychological changes along America's interstates, highways and within our small towns.

This year, Davis and Moore turned their 1970 and 2005 photos, sounds and ephemera into an exhibition, "PROGRESS: In Search of the American Esthetic," documenting the loss of small-town America and its concurrent globalization. Davis explains that the multimedia exhibition is not a travelogue of a buddy trip. The conceptual show, he says, unfolds in many layers. Its message of a rapidly changing America is told visually, factually and emotionally. When viewed from the prism of a 35-year span, the show describes our heartland's disappearing identity and new homogenized aesthetic. The exhibition is entertaining, illuminating and disconcerting. "PROGRESS" displays front pages of the New York Times from 1970 and of the L.A. Times from 2005, all imprinted with images and icons from both periods. There are numerous still photos from both trips, in video format, accompanied by sounds from local radio stations; 10-foot-wide maps routing the trips, with each town visited, a location for a Denny's restaurant; a motel room with framed pictures of "Sunrise Over Home Depot" and "Wal-Mart Parking Lot," 2005; and a model of a Stuckey's souvenir shop.

In the first gallery, the New York Times and L.A. Times front pages have imprints including: faces of Presidents Nixon and Bush and of bin Laden; outlines of Vietnam and Iraq; symbols of the Symbionese Liberation Army from the '70s and logos including Denny's and Wal-Mart. Newspaper headlines and stories reference events of a particular time, while the imprints, Davis says, take viewers to deeper understandings of those time periods. Imprinted on one L.A. Times are statistics contrasting 1970 with 2005. A gallon of gas was 40 cents in 1970 and $3.35 in 2005. Completing the gallery's conceptual look are yellow, fluorescent lights, imparting a sterile, office feeling. "The viewer is disconcerted both by the environment and the subject matter,"Davis explains.

Upon leaving the gallery, the residual aftereffects of intense yellow lights cause viewers to see purple, the color of radiation, for a minute. Then they face a floor to ceiling image of an atomic bomb blast. Opposing that image is one of the World Trade Center being built in 1970, taken from the Empire State Building. This image instantly jolts you back to the present.

Nearby are a video, comprising 250 five-second photos from 1970, accompanied by radio sounds from that year, and a second video from 2005, also with five-second photos and sounds. Images from 1970, seen in almost rapid-fire succession, contrasted with images from 2005, give viewers a visceral awareness of a changing world, of how our towns are being razed and globalized. Davis explains that in 1970, there were many small towns along the road. But last year, those small towns seem to have vanished, having been swallowed up by the Wal-Marts and Home Depots, placed strategically along the highways.Yet ironically, the motel room with the Wal-Mart and Home Depot photos could be from 1970 or from last year, Davis says. Motel décor has changed little in 35 years.

The last gallery is a reproduction of a Stuckey's Souvenir shop replete with items collected by Davis and Moore. While the souvenirs such as a Route 66 dream catcher appear locally produced, every trinket has been "Made inChina."The message of Davis' and Moore's "Progress" is complex as only the videos documenting the replacement of small towns by big box stores demonstrate how bland homogenization is our country's new aesthetic. The rest of the show is political installations that provide background for the changing face of America. This mixed message appears intentional. Davis explains, "In light of the evident exploitation of the landscape for commercial gain and economic development, has progress indeed advanced or declined the quality of life?"