Andy Hall’s Southern Special

CAM Raleigh’s latest Independent Weekly Gallery Emerging Artist Series exhibition, FORM SPECIAL, an exhibition of solar projects and site collages, is a new body of artworks commissioned by CAM Raleigh and created by Andy Hall. The exhibition opened on June 15, 2012 and will be on view until October 8, 2012. Hall currently lives and works in Chicago, where he is a faculty member at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Hall is a contemporary American artist and designer and has developed objects and exhibition designs for renowned sites including: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Museum, Memphis, and Chicago Cultural Center.

CAM Raleigh is a collaboration between the Contemporary Art Foundation, the community and North Carolina State University’s (NC State) College of Design. FORM SPECIAL is supported by a partnership with the North Carolina Solar Center at North Carolina State University. “We are very excited to partner with CAM Raleigh for this exhibition that represents the creative thinking that has made North Carolina a leader in solar energy innovation and development. Working with CAM Raleigh brings together the art, design, and energy communities in a public conversation that raises awareness of the new dynamic approaches needed to address our energy challenges,” said Steve Kalland, executive director of the North Carolina Solar Center.

Hall’s creative character as well as his love of working with materials is interwoven into this body of new works. His objects are minimalistic designs with an unpretentious sense of humor. For his work, T.G.I.F., a solar panel diverts sun energy into a battery. Energy is collected and stored all week and then at noon on every Friday, the green neon sign begins to flash. It stays lit for 24 hours drawing power from the solar battery until the weekly life cycle and recharge begins again. Another artwork in the show that is highly experiential is Fresh Watts, Hall’s solar-powered Karaoke machine. When the sun is shining the system is ready to entertain. But because the battery holds a finite amount of energy, when it is depleted, the party is over. Users can wait for the sun to fully recharge the battery or sing in short bursts as the supply tries to keep up with the demand.

FORM SPECIAL is an exhibition that changes the way you think about design just as contemporary design is changing the way we live in the world. Design affects all aspects of our lives and holds the possibility of changing the very nature of human life itself. FORM SPECIAL is an exhibition grounded in a provocative proposition. Design orchestrates unique life situations by revealing exciting material encounters. It is a celebration of the unique arenas of making/design/art where the objects and built environments have the potential to deliver potent ideas for contemplation and discovery.

The exhibition invites viewers to consider a dynamic future of art and design culture and the real choices we must make. FORM SPECIAL is dramatic, engaging and critical, immersing visitors in a series of powerful encounters with the latest innovations in the fields of appropriate technology, urban design, object design, revolutionary material studies, and more. Design has a ubiquitous presence, one that guides our everyday experiences, shaping our consciousness, reconfiguring our spaces, modifying our lives. With such a dynamic force at our disposal we must acknowledge the power and the opportunity it presents.

In the exhibition FORM SPECIAL, Hall engages with the themes of time and rhythm, work and play in the museum with the debut of five new works that move across the fields of art and design. The origin of each work in the exhibition traces back to the definition of a special as something arranged for a particular service or occasion. Hall demonstrates this notion by filtering ideas through a variety of design processes to find dynamic forms that have potential to both transmit ideas and address utility. For Hall, the site conditions of the Independent Weekly Gallery demand a special approach, with a range of materials, to complement the rich complexities of the space, its viewing angles, and nooks. Visitors to the exhibition will also experience Hall’s artwork Waterfall, that is homage to the life and work of Josef and Anni Albers. This influential couple significantly impacted modern culture and their influence continues to touch the way we make, think, and teach. In this homage, the waterfall is a metaphor for this eternal impact. It represents something that defies capture but ,through engineering, can be tapped into for energy. This piece is made of Color- Aid paper, a material made famous by Josef Albers’s subjective Interaction of Color exercises. The form and pattern are influenced by Anni Albers’s rigorous theories of textile design. This piece is partially supported by Blick Art Materials.

Elysia Borowy-Reeder, CAM Raleigh executive director and curator of the exhibition, says “Hall suggests new ways of experiencing art— his works are reshaping the role of art and design. This exhibition is also a celebration of the diversity of artistic expression that puts the artist in the center of the community. CAM Raleigh is an avid champion of artists early in their careers and we give them an atmosphere where they are encouraged to foster a cross-fertilization of ideas and dynamic interaction with visitors. It’s also an opportunity for visitors to have a chance to meet and exchange ideas with the artists.”

FORM SPECIAL created by Andy Hall is organized by CAM Raleigh. It is curated by Elysia Borowy-Reeder, executive director of CAM Raleigh and coordinated at CAM Raleigh by Kate Shafer, gallery and exhibitions manager.