PACKER SCHOPF GALLERY | MICHAEL HERNANDEZ DE LUNA |
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| PREVIOUS EXHIBITION |
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| March 26 - April 24, 2004 |
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| Gallery One |
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| MICHAEL HERNANDEZ DE LUNA |
| American Beauty |
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| Monkeywrenching Postal Art |
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| Homepage Artists |
| Michael Hernandez de Luna (Gallery One) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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MHDL's art radiates satire and attacks hypocrisy. MHDL makes perforated pages of fake postage stamps, then removes one of the stamps, attaches it to an envelope, and mails it. After the "letter" is sent through the mail, it becomes an art piece. The original sheet with the missing stamp and its respective envelope are then paired in a frame. No subject is taboo, and targets are metaphorically attacked with particular scavenged envelopes and specific stamps. The pairings can be inflammatory-- religion / pedophilia, --drugs / rock star obituaries, --politicians / sexcapades ...the list goes on. A specific example: in a mildly aggressive piece, he has placed Woody Allen's face next to the words, "Kosher Pedophile." The stamp graces a vintage envelope from The Korean Girl Scouts Foundation. This irony is clear. MHDL purposefully creates controversy -- timing with certain mailings has caused legal uproar. This monkeywrenching has gained him local, national, and international attention. His name is infamous in philatelic circles and mail carriers and postmasters alike are amused or offended by his ploy. MHDL's sense of humor and activism make this exhibition a must see for free speech advocates. His tenacity and defiance make the non-art world take notice. On the heels of a show MHDL guest curated at the MCA with Lynne Warren and Tricia Van Eck, Aron Packer Gallery provides another rare opportunity, as this will be the 10th anniversary year of these artistic pranks. Mail related art is a relatively young phenomenon in the art world. You have only to go to the twenties (Dada and Surrealism) to see artistic "tampering," and after, one must shoot to the sixties when the Fluxus movement influenced many a prankster. Another seminal and more mainstream event occurred when Gary Trudeau of Doonesbury fame printed a stamp in his nationally syndicated Sunday comic and told the nation to cut it out and use it as postage. Michael Hernandez De Luna carries on in this tradition, albeit a bit more aggressively |
| Packer Schopf Gallery |
| 942 W. Lake St. |
| p 312.226.8984,
c 773.458.3150 f 312.226.8985 |
| [email protected] |