About the Exhibit - Marigolds
Alex Da Corte’s exhibit, Marigolds, was on view at Karma Gallery in the Fall of 2019.
For this exhibit, Karma took a page out of The Hole’s book and completely transformed the gallery space to accommodate Da Corte’s over-the-top works.
The exhibit title, Marigolds, is a flower that symbolizes both fortune and grief. These are two themes that arise often in Da Corte’s work as he puts a magnifying glass to American culture.
“Known for captivating films and installations that probe popular American culture, Da Corte is acutely sensitive to the myriad signifying effects of both color and cultural imagery and uses them to penetrate our individual experiences and collective associations.” - Brooklyn Rail (source)
The exhibit spans both gallery spaces, the front consists of larger-than-life sculptures that were inspired by vintage cartoons and magazine covers.
“In Da Corte’s world, Camp is exerted to its utmost. Color performs, making full use of its duplicitous nature. Like marigolds, the color yellow signifies both good and evil. It is auspicious and joyful but can also evoke deceit and dishonesty. The room itself is both beguiling and off-putting, and the saturated colors of the neoprene mutate as one bathes in the neon light.” - Brooklyn Rail (source)
“Marigolds goes beyond hinting at the darker truths that children come to understand as they grow into adulthood to suggest they are embedded in the experiences and expressions of innocence. Like art, cartoons are a lie that tells the truth.” - Brooklyn Rail (source)
“I think the work is like a large sandwich of experience and thoughts, layered and stacked and stitched together. If my recent travels have taught me anything, it is that we are very small in this great big world.” - Alex Da Corte (source)
The back gallery is devoted to a work titled ‘Husband Pillow,’ which is based on Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s The Little Prince, where a boa constrictor swallows an elephant but the adults see it as a hat.
About the Artist - Alex Da Corte
Da Corte, 38, is from a family of house painters. He was born in Camden, N.J., and raised in Pittsburgh and Caracas, Venezuela.
He studied Film/Animation and Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and then went on to receive his BFA in Printmaking/Fine Arts, from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He got his MFA from Yale University in 2010.
“His videos, sculptures and installations come in deep, bright, saturated colors, often neon. They freely riff on pop culture, including children’s television, reality TV and cartoons.” - Washington Post (source)
Da Corte had two exhibits at the 2019 Venice Biennale this year. He lives and works in Philadelphia.
