February 6th to February 20th
Opening reception February 11th from 3-6pm
Stu Sherman and several friends traveled to Kosovo from December 2004 to January 2005 on a mission both simple and complex, to figure out the musical landscape of the war-torn region. Due to the instability of the last fifteen years it is difficult to describe the state of Kosovo, which is currently under the governance and protection of the UN. While Sherman was researching, he found that the physical and psychological landscape of the region was horrifically altered from riots. During his brief stay there were constant rumors that the prime minister was going to be arrested and people would begin riots and murders anew. The people that Sherman talked to, who ranged from all over the spectrum of Kosovo society, gave him a fascinating glimpse into Kosovo music, culture, trends, and how you can create innovative art out of the rubble of your life.
What resulted was only the first part of an ongoing study. This show uses the landscape of Kosovo to illustrate the punk culture – a culture based on deconstructing norms and paternalistic repression. There are no photographs of concerts, kids with spiky hair, nihilistic teenagers, or the usual images conjured by something labeled “punk”. Sherman presents the spaces inhabited by the creative individuals trying to build a new world out of the fragments of the old. The works are a personal dialogue with contemporary trends in art and their meaning both aesthetically and morally when confronted with actual destruction and tragedy.
Stu Sherman is a professional iconoclast. After attending Wesleyan University as an undergraduate he moved to Boston to attend graduate school. His graduate education in law and public health was funded by an appearance on the television show Who Wants to be a Millionaire. He is self-taught as a photographer. His work will soon be exhibited on the American Apparel web page as part of the launch of an amateur photographers online gallery. Iris Alonzo, content advisor for American Apparel, described him as a “Ghetto Gursky”. He likes this description and hopes it sticks. This is his first solo show.