Welded steel rods curved and shaped into the Playboy logo. This piece explores sexuality and its relationship to material: steel. With the first issue of the now iconic magazine in 1953, Playboy Enterprises began to define and reflect American masculinity. Through strength and sleekness, steel encapsulates the qualities advertised in Playboy of an ideal 1950s bachelor. Just as steel lasts, so too does this identity. The bunny traced through a framework of metal, left empty to imply a precarious masculine facade, or the vapidness of mid-century gender roles.

“Awesome sweater” -Nick Cave

Completely hand crocheted, this sweater is perfect for cold winter nights or alien expeditions.

The crop top poncho is a garment made with no seams or cut pieces of fabric. It is a single piece of hand-woven cloth with holes for two arms, a torso, and a head.

These boots were made for… slithering. With a sole of glistening scarlet this twosome of bespoke python skin shoes are sensational accessories for confronting the snakes in your life.

A simple pair of handmade navy boots with rounded, booty shaped heels.

By bringing seven vastly different artists together, Artificial Landscape addresses the relationship between natural and digital worlds. Rapid technological advancements have created a poignant association between what is defined as nature and man-made. This leads to the creation and manipulation of an uncanny landscape of nostalgia. This relationship manifests through many different materials and approaches. There are artists, such as Sarah Rose, Minshuo Tang, and Terrell Davis, who attempt to re-create and distort what we consider to be natural using technology. On the other hand, there are artists, such as Arne Asumai, JI Su Kwak, and Phoebe Chin, who formulate an idealized nature born out of nostalgia and a longing to return to a certain time and space.

Curated by Samuel Snodgrass at SITE Galleries, 2018

The exhibition ‘Dear folks,’ was developed through a semester long curatorial research project conducted by students in the ‘Art Objects Alive’ class with the Roger Brown Study Collection.

With the School of the Art Institute of Chicago celebrating its 150th anniversary year the class took this as an opportunity to reflect on their first experiences as students at SAIC and in Chicago via the letters which Roger Brown wrote to his parents when he was first a student at the School. The letters were commonly addressed “Dear Folks,” which became the title of this reflective curatorial project. Further research in SAIC’s libraries, Special Collections and in the Institutional Archive offered extended details which developed a curatorial plan for the presentation of original 2D and 3D object responses, made by the class, alongside seven paintings that Roger Brown made as a student.

Co-curated by Samuel Snodgrass at the Roger Brown Study Collection