Okay is the New Fabulous
Works by Judith Brotman
Opening Reception October 8th, 6-10pm, at Tetrapod Gallery
865 N Virgil Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029
Artist Statement
My exhibition at Tetrapod Gallery, “Okay is the New Fabulous,“ includes three recent works: 1001
Nights (more or less); My Family and Friends (and I) as Tarot Cards; and The Tales 1 (yes, they could
happen to you). The first of these, 1001 Nights (more or less), is composed of index-card-sized mixed
media pieces, each of which contains text from one or more book pages whose content has inspired,
disturbed, or left me feeling ambivalent. All of the texts are re-configured and only close attention may
allow you to discern a title or author. I pose the question: How are we defined by the stories we carry,
by the many words we have digested over time?
My Family and Friends (and I) as Tarot Cards includes 78 mixed media/collaged index-card-sized works
containing the collaged/embellished image of a person or persons who have somehow impacted my life.
In transforming the images, I am acknowledging that our relationships, including our memories and
perceptions of them, may shift over time. I borrow from tarot, not the more common association of
fortune telling but its philosophical ideals of a meditative or spiritual pursuit. I feel strongly that we
dream, think, imagine, and participate most expansively when we pause to reflect on our own lives and
the experiences/relationships that have affected us positively, negatively, or (most often) complexly.
The final piece in the exhibition is an audio piece titled, The Tales 1 (yes, they could happen to you). In
this work, I narrate a series of titles, each one an unlikely pairing of two seemingly unrelated or
improbable tales. Titles such as The Tale of The Unrepentant God and the Younger Saxophone Player
pair the familiar with the strange as life sometimes does.
All three works in the show are serial in nature and might suggest the unfinished or incomplete, evoking
the question: What happens next?” In all my work, I consider these spaces of not knowing to be both
complex and generative despite, or perhaps due to, the resulting cliffhanger of uncertainty.
Link to an essay by Matt Morris
https://www.tetrapodgallery.com/publication
JUDITH BROTMAN
jbrotman@saic.edu
www.judithbrotman.com
