AD Projects is proud to present Spectrum Vision, an exhibition of young visionaries. The seven artists in Spectrum Vision are unified by separate, singular conceptions of the world as it might have been, as it could be now, and as it may become. They are not simply of our time; they are beyond it.
Painter, sculptor and conceptualist Alex Arcadia re-imagines the essence of power and image through invention. Operating under the slogan BRIGHTSHINYFUTURE, Arcadia has devised a system of interplaying signs and relics to create a futuristic mythology linked to a self-titled cosmology, Arcadia. Arcadia encompasses both history and fantasy, addressing themes of propagandistic logic, nation building, commercial enterprise, commodity culture, collectivity and individuality. The SuperGymnast, an erotically charged voluptuous goddess and recurring central figure in his work, will be on display.
Over the last ten years, Jeffrey Beebe has created a large cast of recurring characters in his drawings, collectively titled Adventures in Refractoria. Such figures as Greencandle the Archmage, Phacops Attaboise, and the Wild Uncles populate Refractoria, an imagino-ordinary world which parallels the artist’s personal history. Beebe drops these characters into various scenarios and records their reactions, such that Refractoria has developed a rich history and complicated social structure. Large drawings such as The Copper Palanquin and Celestial Map of Western Refractoria display the complicated geographical schemata and social machinations of Refractoria. Influences as varied as the woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer, the pen and ink cartoons of Honoré Daumier and William Hogarth, and Dungeons and Dragons illustrations inform Beebe’s intricately conceived drawings. Each work on display in Spectrum Vision constitutes an entry in Beebe’s ongoing visual novel.
