Courtney Egan
Courtney Egan: C.A.R.S. ONLINE Virtual Exhibition
Gregory Allicar Museum of Art
https://artspaces.kunstmatrix.com/en/exhibition/3673053/cars-online-courtney-egan
December 16, 2020-December 31, 2021
Review by Ethan Barrett
As we learn to navigate our world during COVID-19, the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art has embraced emerging digital experiences by rethinking the way we view art spaces with their C.A.R.S. (Critic & Artist Residency Series) Online exhibition series. One of the latest in the series is curated by the artist Courtney Egan who exhibits her own work as well as other pieces from the museum’s collection that interlace technology and nature. [1] Tackling this theme during the seemingly endless pandemic forces us to reflect on how we experience technology in a newly isolated world, where we long for even small connections with nature. Egan’s approach is an apropos development in the small, yet growing, trend of online exhibitions in Colorado.
A view of the Critic & Artist Residency Series Online exhibition curated by Courtney Egan for the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. On the left are two of Andy Warhol’s Flowers screenprints from 1970 and on the far right is Courtney Egan’s Sleepwalkers, 2012, HD digital video projection loop, 48 x 72 inches.
Beginning with the guided tour, we are welcomed by two of Andy Warhol’s screenprints from his 1970 Flowers series. Pre-dating the internet, Warhol’s flattened, two-dimensional pop art—referencing consumer advertising and mass culture—is timelessly relevant to today’s digital landscape. With its rich, saturated colors, the Flowers series remains an iconic and enduring inspiration among artists using contemporary digital art marketplaces like RedBubble and Society6. Warhol’s prints not only help place Egan's work in an art historical context, but reference ubiquitous online experiences that set the stage for Egan’s contemporary perspective.
Andy Warhol, Flowers, 1970, screenprint on paper, 37.8 x 37.8 x 0.1 inches, from the collection of the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art at Colorado State University, a gift of Polly and Mark Addison.
A still image of Courtney Egan’s Extinct in the Wild, 2020, HD digital video projection loop.
Consisting of looping digital video projections, each of Egan’s four works in the exhibit depict various flowers undulating and blooming against an infinite black void. The disjointed placement of the flowers and the black background can be seen as in conversation with Warhol’s second print in the show. Egan’s works seem equally if not more appropriate in the virtual exhibition space than in a physical one. Extinct in the Wild from 2020 includes a disjointed arm swaying and holding a branch of Angel’s Trumpet flowers, while the vacancy of the dark background reflects the empty void of the internet.
These illusions refer to the mystique of how technology creates the things we can view and interact with, seemingly out of nothingness, in a novel context frequently divorced from the natural world. Despite this divide, Egan pursues a subtle replication of life: by having no play or pause button nor a duration, her flowing works appear to exist as organisms in the space itself. As each flower casually moves within each piece, independently floating within its composition, the oscillating motion of the videos also gives a nod to other familiar dynamic digital interactions such as screensavers and animated smart phone backgrounds.
Courtney Egan, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, 2019, HD video projection loop with cast ceramic arms, 48 x 60 x 5 inches. See the animated projection here.
While some of the 26 artworks presented in the exhibition do not live up to their in-person experiences, the overall participation this exhibit creates for the viewer is decidedly more engaging than simply viewing each piece in a static format, such as looking through the museum’s online exhibition catalog.
Technology-specific categories of art such as net art aside, virtually hosting an exhibition or providing a virtual experience supplemental to the art is not yet standard for art venues, despite the technology having existed for many years. Other industries such as real estate and virtual cartography became the forerunners in establishing simulations of three-dimensional spaces as household experiences. Even the online platform the exhibition is currently hosted on, Kunstmatrix, was founded in 2010. [2] However compelling the C.A.R.S. Online experience is, as more people in the country become vaccinated and COVID-19 restrictions have lifted, the degree to which art exhibitions will continue to embrace the trend of viewing art virtually is uncertain. Egan’s approach is proof that this digital format is not only viable but should be explored further.
Ethan Barrett is a photographer and web developer living in Denver. They are also the director of Denver Arts Organized (denverarts.org), a resource for local exhibitions, news, galleries, and events.
[1] This group exhibition features works by the following artists: Sama Alshaibi, Unidentified Asante artist (Ghanaian), Romare Bearden, Bihn Danh, Courtney Egan, Lucy Johnson, Rashid Johnson, Amanda Lucario, Rose Maloney, Patrick Ryoichi Nagatani, Sheila Pinkel, Susan Point, Rose Simpson, Roxanne Swentzell, Barbara Tisserat, and Andy Warhol.
[2] Marta Colangelo, “Kunstmatrix: Online Platforms to Support the Art Market,” Tafter Journal, www.tafterjournal.it/2020/08/15/kunstmatrix-online-platforms-to-support-the-art-market/.
