DESTRUCTION OF EDEN: WAR OF THE GHOSTS
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN JOHN HITCHCOCK AND CHAD OLIVER
On view: May 29 - July 20, 2024
Opening Reception and Performance: Saturday, June 15 | 12 - 4 PM
SET IN THE METAPHYSICAL BEAUTY AND HISTORICAL REGION OF THE WICHITA MOUNTAINS IN OKLAHOMA, A STARK CONTRAST TO THE ADJACENT MILITARY BASE (FT. SILL) AND TOWN OF LAWTON, OK. HITCHCOCK AND OLIVER MET AT CAMERON UNIVERSITY ART SCHOOL, LOCATED IN LAWTON. THEY BECAME FAST FRIENDS WORKING ON ART, MUSIC, AND GENERAL YOUTHFUL MAYHEM. OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST 30 YEARS, JOHN AND CHAD HAVE CONTINUED THIS RELATIONSHIP WORKING ON VARIOUS PROJECTS AND OFFERING CREATIVE SUPPORT.
DESTRUCTION OF EDEN : WAR OF THE GHOSTS IS A COLLABORATIVE WORK COMPRISED OF DRAWINGS AND A DIMENSIONAL CENTERPIECE THAT GROUNDS THE SHOW AND ACTS AS A RESPITE. IT DRAWS ON THE ARTISTS’ EXPERIENCES GROWING UP IN LAWTON-FT. SILL AND THE WICHITA MOUNTAINS.
MANY OF THE LARGE DRAWINGS, ALONG WITH THE OVERALL IDEATION OF THIS SHOW, WERE DEVELOPED DURING RESIDENCY IN MEDICINE PARK, JOHN’S HOMETOWN IN THE WICHITA MOUNTAINS. DURING THIS TIME, THE ARTISTS TOOK MORNING DRIVES AND HIKES THROUGH THE REGION TO REFLECT ON THE PAST, EMBRACE THE PRESENT, AND CONTEMPLATE THE FUTURE OF A LAND WITH COMPLICATED HISTORIES.
THIS IS POETRY.
ABOUT THE
ARTISTS
John Hitchcock is a contemporary artist and musician of Comanche, Kiowa and Northern European descent based out of Madison, Wisconsin and originally from Medicine Park, Oklahoma. Hitchcock currently works in multimedia including neon, textiles, printmaking, sound, and video to reclaim narratives of resilience and survival. He uses visual storytelling to understand his relationships to community, land, and culture. Hitchcock’s artwork consists of abstract representations, language and intense color referencing his Kaku’s (Comanche grandmothers) beadwork and regalia. His artworks are based on his childhood memories and stories of growing up in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma on Comanche Tribal lands next to the US field artillery military base Ft Sill. Many of the images are interpretations of stories told by his Kiowa/Comanche grandparents and abstract representations influenced by beadwork and intercultural identities.
He earned his MFA in printmaking and photography at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas and received his BFA from Cameron University, Lawton, Oklahoma. He has been the recipient of The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Artistic Innovation and Collaboration grant, New York; Jerome Foundation Grant, Minnesota; the Creative Arts Award and Emily Mead Baldwin Award in the Creative Arts at the University of Wisconsin. He is currently an Artist and the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he teaches screenprinting, relief cut, and installation art.
Hitchcock’s artwork has been exhibited at numerous venues including the National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon; Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, Montana; North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Fork, North Dakota; International Print Center New York; New York; Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico; American Culture Center in Shanghai, China, The Rauschenberg Project Space, New York, New York; and “Air, Land, Seed” at the Venice Biennale 54th International of Art at the University of Ca' Foscari, Venice, Italy.
Website: https://www.hybridpress.net/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridpress/
Chad Oliver is an artist / designer living and working in New York City. Born in Oklahoma City and raised primarily in Lawton, OK., home to Ft. Sill and the nearby Wichita Mountains, a landscape and environment that continues to influence his work to this day.
His mother Mary Frances McCoy Oliver was an artist and teacher who introduced him to art making at a young age and continued to encourage his art making through the years.
In addition to his art practice Chad has worked as a Visual Display Designer in NYC for the last 20 years. He began his career in Visual Display working in the windows of Macy's Herald Square and currently serves as Director for DKNY, Donna Karan and Karl Lagerfeld.
Working mostly in watercolors, ink and various other medium on paper his work navigates thoughts of time / space and the human condition. Chad Oliver received his BFA from Cameron University in 1995 and his MFA from the University of Oklahoma in 1997.
His work has been shown throughout the United States.
Website: https://www.chadoliver.net/
This exhibition is also supported in part by the Virginia Commission for the Arts, which receives support from the Virginia General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
