“The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) is pleased to present Pieceable Kingdom, an exhibition of new mixed-media artworks by Camille Hoffman that offer meditations on Manifest Destiny and its latent representation in the Romantic American landscape. This marks the third installment of MAD’s Fellow Focus series, which is dedicated to highlighting the work of alumni of the Van Lier Fellowship, awarded thrice yearly as part of the Museum’s Artist Studios Program.
Hoffman’s work reflects on how histories of race, gender, and power are often embedded within influential American landscape paintings of the nineteenth century through their depictions of light, nature, the frontier, and borders. In her work, the artist explores the interconnectedness of her own identity with American colonialism, environmental policy, and contemporary pop culture. With materials collected from everyday life, including holiday-themed tablecloths, discarded medical records, nature calendars, plastic bags, and paint, Hoffman crafts layered geographies in which fragments of cultural objects are chromatically twisted and blended into complex wholes.” — MAD
Landing (Mist Parts Over Columbus Circle), 2017. Medical records, credit card offers, tiki decorations, nature calendars, plastic tablecloths, plastic bags, Dora the Explorer puzzle pieces, photo, maps and oil on chicken wire and wood, 48 x 66 x 4 inches. Courtesy of the Artist
Cochlea for a Deaf Storm, 2017. Sandals luxury vacation promotionalposter, oil, acrylic, medical records and plaster on chicken wire and wooden stretchers, 36 x 36 x 10 inches. Courtesy of the Artist
Not the Flame Nor Darkness You Claim, 2017. Oil, acrylic, nature calendars, USDA National Resources Conservation Service “Colors of Soil” educational poster, Thanksgiving tablecloth, Tiki Party tablecloth, Winter Wonderland tablecloth, Pioneer Supermarket bag, Dora the Explorer loot bag, Walmart bag, Savers bag, Home Depot bag on plaster, wire mesh and wood, 36 x 72 x 24 inches. Courtesy of the Artist
Not the Flame Nor Darkness You Claim (detail), 2017
Cast these timed lines into the water, not to measure how many leagues exist below its surface, but to set them adrift (detail), 2017. Pioneer Supermarket bag, Thank You Thank You bodega bag, Just Salad bag, Whole Foods bag, Dollar Tree bag, Moana tablecloth, Sandals Luxury Vacations poster, nature calendars, Cinderella gift wrap, acrylic and oil on carved wood, 74 x 17 x 3.5 inches. Courtesy of the Artist
Pieceable Kingdom, 2017. Oil, plastic Thanksgiving tablecloth, digital print of Edward Hicks’ 1834 Peaceable Kingdom, Whole Foods bag, Dollar Tree bag, “We Care We Recycle” bag, golf course calendar, Thank You Thank You bodega bag on plaster, aluminum and wood, 20 x 19 x 3 inches. Courtesy of the Artist
Pieceable Kingdom (detail), 2017
“The intensity with which Camille transforms and manipulates her materials into stunning surfaces and compositions is matched by her fierce dedication to both historical research and critical exploration of the global effects of Western imperialism in its past and present forms,” said Danny Orendorff, MAD’s Curator of Public Programs. “Her focus on her craft and dedication to sharing it with the art-viewing public made her an incredible addition to the Museum as a Van Lier Fellow. We are thrilled that the work she created here and since will be on view at MAD in completion.”
Images courtesy Museum of Arts and Design.