UO Center for Art Research Exhibition

Garrick Imatani: Monologue
April 3 to May 1, 2021 at Eugene Contemporary Art's gallery ANTI-AESTHETIC, 245 W. 8th Ave in Eugene, Oregon
Gallery hours: Saturdays & Sundays from noon- 4:00 p.m. by appointment    

Garrick Imatani’s project Monologue examines the forces that inform and shape perceptions of non-dominant cultural identities. Through an examination of his own Japanese cultural heritage, Imatani creates objects and iconographies that use direct observation or online engagement to setup an alternative punchline. With his project he questions the aesthetics of assimilation and authenticity, as well as the contemporary and conceptual which continue to situate works within co-opted art historical references. The objects and prints comprising this installation question both the dominant canon and inclusionary and equity constructs – first enforced by colonialist aesthetics and further perpetuated within institutional frameworks and scholarship. In creating interactive objects layered with humorous imagery, Imatani seeks to diffuse the notion of an intangible “essence” of a culture—inviting instead a de-centralized, intricate and multifaceted reading of cultural properties beyond one’s own.

Garrick Imatani is an artist who uses performance, functional objects, or interaction to draw attention to one’s embodied subjectivity. Working in sculpture, photography, video and installation, recent projects focus on reimagining racialized historical erasures into more believable and inspired futures. Past works have included collaborating with illegally-surveilled activists to readjust city archives, re-enacting labor on the transcontinental railroad, and working with the Grand Ronde tribe to replicate their sacred meteorite held in the American Museum of Natural History.

His work has been exhibited at the Blaffer Art Museum (Houston), Triumph Gallery (Moscow), Art in General (NYC), Disjecta Contemporary Art Center (Portland, OR), Chachalu Museum (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, OR), Art, Design and Architecture Museum at UC Santa Barbara, and Portland Museum of Art (ME), among others. He has received grant support from The Andy Warhol Foundation, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, The Ford Family Foundation, Oregon Arts Commission, Maine Arts Commission, Regional Arts & Culture Council and Oregon Percent for Art. Imatani holds an MFA from Columbia University, NY and resides in Portland, OR where he is an Associate Professor and Chair of Foundation at Pacific Northwest College of Art.

This exhibition is organized as part of Dismantling the House, a series of public programs and exhibitions curated by Yaelle S. Amir, CFAR’s 2020-21 Curator-in-Residence. Programs are made possible by the Ford Family Foundation.