MIDAS: HOW ART BECOMES LIFE & LIFE BECOMES ART
ON VIEW JANUARY 29 – MARCH 26, 2022
Berkeley Art Center, California
Curated by Squeak Carnwath
Featuring: Maria A. Guzmán Capron, Ricki Dwyer, Linda Geary, Sahar Khoury, Jerry Leisure, Kyle Lypka & Tyler Cross, John Moore
Invisible attachments — those subliminal connections, like hidden organs, that nourish the artist’s daily effort and interior life — are what Midas: How Art Becomes Life & Life Becomes Art examines and celebrates. Curated by artist SQUEAK CARNWATH, the exhibition features objects of inspiration and remnants from each artist’s studio alongside finished works.
Artists work for many reasons: cultural critique, social activism, money, professional ambition, and sheer habit are just some of the motives that induce an artist into the studio. But the visceral, nameless need to work is the most urgent and sustaining reason. Thunderbolts of inspiration are for Marvel Comics and the movies. Artists know that it’s work that generates work. They know that moves generate moves. There’s nothing woo-woo or glamorous about it. But moves that surrender to mystery and the laws of sensitivity are the ones that most richly invigorate the creative process.
— excerpt from the essay "The Inside Track" by Julia Couzens
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