UP-ISH, Guggenheim Gallery at Chapman University

UP-ISH
Guggenheim Gallery at Chapman University

Dewey Ambrosino
Kristi Lippire
Renée Petropoulos
Margo Victor
Jennifer West

organized by Marcus Herse

February 1 - March 11, 2016
Please join us for the artist reception and catalog release on Monday March 7, 2016 from 4-6 p.m.
Guggenheim Gallery at Chapman University
One University Drive
Orange CA


Aside from its meaning as a state of psychological well being, the word ‘high’ implies value and authority. High school, high art, and high culture are respectively the best versions, and prepending ‘high’ to these nouns attests to the quality of their objects. The German term “Hochdeutsch” (High-German) suggests that this particular pronunciation is superior to other dialects, and that there is a good and a better way of speaking the language even though grammatically there is no difference. High can also imply unobtainability, a desired result may be out of reach, and of course we must ask - high in relation to what? Naturally, to its counterpart, ‘low’ - Go figure. Deepening this thought, however, we see that when speaking about high versus low culture we ultimately speak about the Judeo-Christian concepts of good and evil, Heaven and Hell, and all their implied value judgments. Through this language we inform our politics, ethics and philosophy and not least our aesthetic decisions.

Well, how do you get high? - By going up.

Up, in contrast, speaks about directionality, and while it could be used to describe how to actually get from Hell to Heaven, the word itself leaves the destination undeclared. Even when you’re high you can still go up. Although up is also situated within the polarity of high and low, it is relative to the individual agent’s position within the whole, as opposed to high which suggests an absolute point of reference, the final desired state. Up emphasizes the path, not the outcome, it emphasizes possibility along the way, rather than a value judgment.

Lastly the ‘up’ we are talking about must not be confused with the relentless brutality of the positivism prescribed by the media and the advertising industry. Our ‘up’ leaves questions of superiority and functionality behind, and asks for our pathway within the whole, the individual within the structures of our world, in which we move in more or less straight lines, upward-ish.

In this sense, up is the direction the artists in the show take, to elevate us and see our world from remote vantage points. Some literally lift the camera into the air or focus their lens onto celestial bodies, while others move up in spiritual ways, placing our understanding of the political, economic and scientific order ‘up and away’, outside of society’s usual lines of vision.