Show #59
Tarzan Boy
Billy Buck
Jacob Haupt
Curated by Olivia Swider
Opening Reception: Thur, June 20th, 6-8 pm
Dates: June 20th – Aug 3rd, 2019
Hours: Wed-Sat 12-6
“They are saying—what aren’t they saying!—that the world has nothing strange to offer where —we are, are claiming it just changed like the voice of a young boy; they object lugubriously that the time of fairy stories are over. Over for them! If I want the world to change, if I even mean to consecrate the part of my own life to its changing in its social aspect, it is not in the vain hope of returning to the time of these stories, but of course, in the hope of helping the time to come when they will no longer just be stories.”
—Andre Breton, excerpt from Mad Love
Selenas Mountain is excited to present Tarzan Boy, at Field Projects by Chicago based artist Billy Buck and Salt Lake City based artist Jacob Haupt. Through super heroes, dreams, and sorcery, this exhibition visits a hypnagogic terrain of schoolboy days. In these redesigned realities the mystique of the human figure is transformed and there is an affinity for the common place object. The show takes its title from the 1985 song “Tarzan Boy” by Baltimora.
In this revisited boyhood, characters are elevated from their real life identities and disposable materials transcend their original purposes. Buck and Haupt unpretentiously utilize consumer items such as bologna slices, trash bags, rubber gloves, and tape, to name a few, as they explore the relationship of creating a photograph as a sculptural process. These works simultaneously reflect an innate desire to remain youthful while thoughtfully referencing the existential mortality inherent in superhero stories.
Billy Buck
Billy Buck was born in Northridge, CA and was raised in suburban Illinois. He attended SAIC from 2008-2012, and received his BFA in photography. He currently lives and works in Chicago, making photographs in the field and in his home studio/darkroom. He investigates anticipation and anxiety by constructing surreal and sometimes bizarre photographs of objects and people that are often commonplace; revealing imagery that entices the senses as much as it repulses them.
His work has been shown nationally and internationally with, Make-Space at MDW Art Fair, MANA Contemporary (Chicago, IL), The Coat Check (Chicago, IL), Filter Photo (Chicago, IL), Nextart Gallery (Gothenburg, Sweden), AWA Gallery (Amsterdam, Netherlands), VAULT Gallery (Jacksonville, FL), Signal Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Arcade Cardiff (Cardiff, Wales). Buck has been featured by Don/Dean and Humble Arts Foundation.
Jacob Haupt
Jacob Haupt (b. 1989, Modesto, California) is an artist working with photography, video, and sculpture. His work employs pop culture as both metaphor and mirror for addressing the tragedy of becoming adult. After completing the book Infinity Gate with Noah Jackson in 2015, he recently released a photobook of his own, Gloom. Airlock Gallery (CA) hosted his first solo show Beyond the Super Rainbow in 2015, and he has continued to exhibit nationally, internationally, online, and in print. His work has been featured by Humble Arts Foundation, Der Greif, Don/Dean, and Ordinary Magazine.
Olivia Swider
Olivia Swider (b. 1987, Illinois, USA) is an artist, curator and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Swider received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2010. She is the cofounder of Hungryman (2008-2012, Chicago, IL) and Selena (2016-2018, Brooklyn, NY). While directing Selena, Swider focused the program on curating artists of color. Closing in 2018, Selena combined programs with MOUNTAIN directed by Michael Fleming. Relocating to Ridgewood, NY, Selenas Mountain opened with its inaugural show this past September. As an artist Swider has exhibited at Filter Photo, Chicago, IL; Fresh Window, Brooklyn, NY; Kustera Projects, Brooklyn, NY; MOUNTAIN, Brooklyn, NY; Three Walls, Chicago, IL; Pentagon Gallery, Chicago, IL; and the Verge Art Fair at Miami Basel, Miami, FL. Her exhibitions have been featured in The Art Newspaper, Artnet News, Artforum, Art F City, Burnaway, Bedford + Bowery, Bad at Sports, Editorial Magazine, New City, The Chicago Tribune, The Fader, The New York Times, The Visualist and Univision News. Recently, she has curated off-site exhibitions at the NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY and w83 Redeemer Church, New York, NY.
