wide shot of gallery
Last autumn, artists Jack Holly, Lily Madden and Austin Gutierrez headed to Washington, D.C., where they watched the results of the 2024 presidential election. The exhibit “Deep-Fried Butter” is primarily inspired by their observations about MAGA-driven leadership and politics; how implemented policies and cultural beliefs have shaped the nation. Their exhibition conceptualizes a waiting room within an imagined culture where MAGA got everything it wanted.
The artists painted the Plug gallery walls in Baker-Miller pink, a shade associated with reducing violent or hostile behavior in jailed prisoners. Studies suggest the color produces anger or anxiety over a prolonged period. Thus, an attempted cure only exacerbates issues.
A wall illustration presents an over-sized stylized eagle clutching arrows and olive branches. Stripped of red, white, and blue colors and other symbols associated with the U.S., the eagle lacks context and potency. A yellow-green layered circular structure atop the eagle looks like a tumorous growth. According to Gutierrez, the structure is a clock that doesn’t resemble a timepiece nor function in any understandable fashion.
Objects in the room are broken, dysfunctional by known standards, or grotesque. Cutouts of a trashcan and a vending machine are Hollywood-style facades. The waiting room is a facsimile, a warped world where image trumps traditional meaning, purpose and usefulness.
The artists produced portraits of themselves simulating MAGA elite. Headshots with discomforting expressions overlay a Thomas Kinkade-style western backdrop. The array of heads on a cheap film resembles a barbershop poster displaying different haircut styles.
Three broken chairs along a wall are unable to accommodate an occupant. They are devoid of intended purpose. Withered potted plants are tired sentinels, taking space as unsettling decor.
Gutierrez painted a well-dressed, smiling, and fleshy man and woman who anchor each side of a lime green canvas. Between them, a gold frame displays a drawing of an immigrant being embraced or seized (?) by someone whose face is hidden. Farcically, two white oscillating fans, unmoving, blow air toward the canvas and relieve no one.
Drawn with color pencil and sprayed with a matte finish, Madden’s postcard-sized work depicts a silhouetted figure on a rocky summit who reaches toward a climbing figure. “Integrity” and nondescript wording appear beneath. The artwork mocks the spiritually destitute motivational posters once sold in mall stores and were typically hung on office walls in past decades.
Holly’s conceptual video loops on a VHS monitor. Authoritarianism has run amok. Ultra-patriotic imagery and Orwellian messages deliver dystopian commands and reminders to citizens.
Wall-mounted security cameras with a blinking red light prompt questions about who observes from afar. Like dismantled bureaucracy, inefficient objects and incomprehensible systems are by design. Hope, fairness and rational thinking aren’t welcome. Waiting reinforces submission and increases desperation for carefully allotted salvation delivered only by others in power.
“Deep-Fried Butter” continues at Plug Gallery, 1328 Agnes Ave., through Aug. 22. Hours are 5 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 13 and 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16. The gallery will hold a closing reception and artist talk from 6 to 9 p.m. Aug. 22. For more information, visit www.plug.gallery.
