Bill Scanga macroevolutionary microenvironments Christy Rupp patentable future: genetically altered sculpture May 11 - June 17, 2001 Opens Friday, May 11, 6 - 8 pm The Frederieke Taylor gallery is pleased to announce a two-person exhibition by Bill Scanga and Christy Rupp. For this exhibition, Rupp and Scanga have created installations that focus on the environment in different ways. Christy Rupp, in patentable future: genetically altered sculpture, sheds light on some of the hazards inherent in genetic engineering. Bill Scanga, with macroevolutionary microenvironments, has created miniature suburban houses for crickets. The cricket houses are accompanied by a series of cricket and ant portraits that mix irony with affection for human and animal behavior. Christy Rupp's work originates from her concern for the impact of our society on the environment and on the world's precarious juggling of ecology and economics. This exhibition comments on the effect of bioengineering on food and the absence of labeling requirements for genetically modified organism manufacturers. Rupp selected insects because they respond rapidly to changes in the environment. Theoretically, in order to stay ahead of the insect pest curve, we will constantly have to be adding toxic genetic characteristics to our farmed food products. By creating labels for new GMO products, Rupp intends to promote consumer awareness. Christy Rupp has been a well-known social and political art-activist since the seventies. She has exhibited widely, from the time that she participated in the Times Square Show in 1979 and was affiliated with Colab and Group Material. She has completed numerous public art projects in New York as well as other cities in the United States. She has had solo exhibitions in museums and galleries in the United States as well as abroad. This is her second exhibition with the Frederieke Taylor gallery. The artist lives and works in New York. Bill Scanga concentrates on issues related to basic human-nature relationships, specifically biology, taxonomy, museum studies, anthropomorphism and environmentalism. He focuses on the life-giving force of animals, cherishing and nurturing their humanity, and on the current scientific belief systems created by our common attempt to classify and comprehend. As George Melrod wrote in World Art: "Scanga…gently mocks the implicit scientific impulse to choreograph the workings of nature…his working metaphor is not so much the popular image of the dystopian mad scientist as that of a protective, somewhat overbearing mother." Bill Scanga, who also lives and works in New York City, has been in numerous exhibitions in the United States as well as in Europe. He has had two solo shows with the Frederieke Taylor gallery and is currently part of a group exhibition, "Something Warm and Fuzzy" that is traveling through the United States. Home | Exhibitions | Artists | Contacts Copyright © 2001 by Frederieke Taylor gallery