New Mexico Museum of Art

Drip Tease: John Tinker’s Narrative Sculptures

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 09, 2010

MEDIA CONTACT


New Mexico Museum of Art

(Santa Fe, NM – July 20, 2010)—In Drip Tease John Tinker challenges the public with sixteen sculptures that offer droll comments about politics, survival, and popular culture. These works focus on the contradictions of the present moment through allusions to liquids that leak, ooze, or pool. Materials that melt provide the perfect medium for demonstrating the transitory nature of contemporary life.

Drip Tease opens at the New Mexico Museum of Art August 13, 2010 with a reception hosted by the Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The exhibition runs through January 9, 2011. Opening on the same evening at the Museum is Traces: Johnnie Winona Ross.

These sculptures evolved out of high Modernist art at the end of the twentieth century. Sculpture from that period often emphasized simplified forms and exquisite craftsmanship. However, Tinker added narrative titles, an action that prevented his sculptures from being interpreted only as minimal forms. These one-line descriptions assured viewers that these are not empty forms, but critiques of the conventional wisdom surrounding the present.

Tinker’s comments about his sculptures illuminate aspects of the works that might be missed by casual viewers. The tension between his craftsmanship and the subjects of his sculptures creates a surrealist edge to these works. In this way, each drip teases viewers and stirs them to rethink the contradictions of daily life. 

Media Contact:

Joseph Traugott, PhD

Curator of Twentieth Century Art

New Mexico Museum of Art

505-476-5062

joe.traugott@state.nm.us

 

Steve Cantrell

Public Relations Manager

505-476-1144

505-310-3539 – cell

steve.cantrell@state.nm.us

 

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