The Lamar Dodd School of Art galleries will present In Between Things, an exhibition of sculptural and flat work inspired by artist Libby Black’s particular approach to luxury. The exhibition will be on view from March 4–April 2 at the Lamar Dodd School of Art’s Broad Street Gallery, located at 257 W. Broad St.
The opening night of the exhibition will feature a Visiting Artist/Scholar Lecture at 5:30 p.m. in Room 102 of the Student Learning Center followed by the artist’s reception at Broad Street Gallery from 7–9 p.m.
“Black transforms accessories into objects of art and frees them of their use value,” said Berin Golonu of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
Black takes inspiration from specific purveyors of material excess—Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Gucci and Kate Spade to be exact. By studying and extracting from their goods the very symbols of luxury status (logo and particular style), Black creates luxury anew with paper, glue and pigment. Surface, anticipation and distraction are major themes in this work, showing objects of desire as simply, and finally, objects.
Known for her startling recreations of boutique environments—most recently a Kate Spade store at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts—from the store furniture to the products, Black grants audiences immediate membership to a lifestyle that is symbolic at best.
Black earned her BFA in painting from the Cleveland Institute of Art and her MFA in painting and drawing from the California College of Arts and Crafts. Her most recent exhibitions have taken place at the Heather Marx Gallery in San Francisco, the Manolo Garcia Gallery in San Francisco and the Oakland Museum of California in Oakland.