Opening Thursday April 17th, 6-9pm

Monads

Michael Antkowiak

Monads draws upon the modernist themes of isolation and alienation. Sourcing imagery from webcam sites, Antowiak is interested in an intersection of contemporary and art historical forms of self-expression.

In the 1982 essay, "Post-Modernism: or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism", Fredric Jameson defines the modern alienated subject as the monad - the ego, the centered self. The monad represents an intact vessel, a subject in anxious separation from its environment. Jameson also develops a critique of the hermeneutic model - the idea of inside vs. outside, of inward emotionality authentically expressed outward.

Antkowiaks paintings evoke the modernist model of expression, and the idea of the monad, through the depiction of a contemporary hermetically sealed space the domestic interior. The theme of the alienated subject within a symbolic interior is prevalent throughout modern history. There exists an equivalent in the images of web cam exhibitionists who engage in banal displays, all contained within their generic spaces. Antkowiak is attracted to this imagery of self-absorption, a desire for authentic experience, the formation of identity, and the idea that being seen is in itself validating.

Monads marks Michael Antokowiaks first solo exhibition with LE Gallery.