Fels’ conceptual starting point for this exhibition was Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama’s 1498 voyage to Malabar, India, in search of a direct sea route for the spice trade. This exhibition explores the historic and modern-day legacy of that expedition more than 500 years later. What Is a Trade? Donald Fels and Signboard Painters of South India will be on view at Tacoma Art Museum September 13, 2008 through January 18, 2009. Organized by Rock Hushka, Curator of Contemporary and Northwest Art at Tacoma Art Museum, the exhibition opens May 2 at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture and Saranac Art Projects in Spokane and travels to the Hoffman Gallery at Lewis and Clark College in Portland January 21 through March 18, 2010.
In 2004 and 2005, Fels traveled to Kerala (formerly Malabar), India, as a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar, to work with local commercial signboard painters on a body of work that examines globalization in India and traces its roots to Vasco’s voyage. Most of the signboard painters had formerly worked as billboard painters—until recently, all billboards in India were hand-painted, but cheaper and more efficient inkjet printers are making the painters obsolete. In light of this trend, Fels and his collaborators created work in the style of traditional hand-painted billboards and Bollywood advertising. The bright colors and strong graphic narratives make visually arresting statements about the historic and contemporary effects of trade and globalization.
“Donald Fels has been creating complex bodies of work around the link between trade and culture for nearly two decades,” said Stephanie Stebich, Director at Tacoma Art Museum. “The collaborative and improvisational nature of the project challenges traditional understandings of artistic production and provides a forum for cultural exchange. His work is not about easy answers, but invokes multiple perspectives to investigate how global trade has evolved over the centuries to involve all nations and cultures.”
“History is problematic precisely because it sits statically on the page,” Donald Fels says. “It is always more difficult to come by out on the street, but almost always more authentic and meaningful.”
Fels earned a Bachelor’s in Art and American Studies from Wesleyan University, and a Masters of Arts in Education with Highest Honors from City University of Seattle where he was the Board of Governor’s Presidential Scholar. He also studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and the University of Washington. He has been a Fulbright Fellow in Italy and twice received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is a grant recipient of the Jack Straw Foundation, Humanities Washington, the Ferguson Foundation, and Artist Trust. Over the past fifteen years, he has received multiple grants from the Washington State Arts Commission, the Seattle Arts Commission (now the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs), and the King County Arts Commission (now 4Culture).
Fels has lived and worked in Fall City, Washington, since 1974, but he travels extensively doing research for his art. His work has been shown at galleries and museums around the world, including the Penang Museum in Malaysia, Bologna’s Museum of Modern Art, Boston’s Institute for Contemporary Art, Seattle Art Museum, Bellevue Arts Museum, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle’s Center on Contemporary Art, Bank of America Gallery, and University of Puget Sound. The Washington State Arts Commission purchased a series of paintings he completed in South India for permanent installation at University of Washington in Tacoma. He is represented by Davidson Contemporary in Seattle.
What Is a Trade? Donald Fels and Signboard Painters of South India is accompanied by an illustrated eighty-page full-color catalogue of the same name, featuring essays by the artist; Greg Bell, Curator and Collection Coordinator for 4Culture in Seattle, and former curator at Tacoma Art Museum; and Samuel K. Parker, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at University of Washington Tacoma.
Comments