TRICIA McLAUGHLIN
Disposable Heroes
November 21, 2014 - January 24, 2015
Opening Reception: Friday, November 21, 6PM - 8PM
Artist Talk: Saturday, December 13, 2014, 3PM
DISPOSABLE HEROES has been extended through February 22, by appointment only. Call 646.228.7950.

Inspired by American anarchist and peace activist Emma Goldman’s speech "Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty", media artist Tricia McLaughlin manifests a multimedia world of ruling and warring apes. Part fine art, part kitsch, McLaughlin’s ape series stands merchandising on its head, offering up the infamous simians as animation, painting and sculpture. The gallery becomes a war zone of ideas emanating from the actual words of the renowned activist spoken in various tongues: English, Spanish, Korean, Arabic, Polish, Hebrew, Wolof, and others.

For Emma Goldman "War is a quarrel between two thieves too cowardly to fight their own battle. Therefore, they take boys from one village and another village, stick them into uniforms, equip them with guns, and let them loose like wild beasts against each other."

For Tricia McLaughlin "Disposable Heroes" explores the human need to impose order and design upon the world, a theme that informs much of her work: "In some ways my approach to art borrows from Goldman’s anarchic spirit. The status quo isn’t always the best rule. The social constructs we live by affect our behavior. Modifying or exaggerating those constructs and rules changes the game. More so when it’s a game of power."

Tricia McLaughlin is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship for her work in fantasy architecture in the form of 3D design, animation, painting and sculpture. She has also been awarded two grants from the Jerome Foundation (Travel Grant, 2006, and Media Arts Grant, 2004) and an Artist’s Fellowship for Video from New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2006 she completed a 9x90 foot animation of a virtual aquarium for a permanent public art commission at the City of Virginia Beach Convention Center.

Her work has been screened and exhibited in the U.S., Canada, England, Germany, Spain, Russia, Chile, South Korea and Japan. She lives and works in New York, NY, USA. Currently she is an Associate Professor of Animation and Electronic Media in the Visual Arts Department at the State University of New York College at Old Westbury.