From September 1 to 26, the exhibition PLACE YOUR AD EVERYWHERE: New Work by Paul Thulin will be on view at Mary Baldwin University’s Hunt Gallery. Thulin uses analog photography, digital montage, appropriation, installation, video, and various alternative materials to explore the contextual and material constructs of history, cultural identity, consumerism, memory, and myth. He is represented by Modernbook Gallery in San Francisco, California, and ADA Gallery in Richmond.
His photographs have been exhibited nationally and internationally at United Photo Industries, New York City; Miami Scope; Candela Gallery, Richmond; Chicago Art Fair; PPAC, Philadelphia; and the Toronto Art Fair. Thulin has been the recipient of a variety of photographic prizes and awards including a 2001 TPI National Graduate Fellowship, a 2006 Virginia Commission for the Arts Artist Fellowship, and the 2013 Conveyor Magazine Exhibition Grant. In addition, he has worked on curatorial projects related to local nonprofit art organizations such as 1708 Gallery in Richmond and Washington Project for the Arts. He currently lives in Richmond and works as the graduate director of the Department of Photography and Film at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Interested in critiquing the spectacles, constructed landscapes, and surveillance mechanisms of late capitalism, Thulin says the following about the work in this exhibition: “PLACE YOUR AD EVERYWHERE critically examines the micro- and macro- topographies, of what can now only be considered the contemporary spectacle of landscape, that has been co-opted by the intrusive and increasingly aggressive advertising tactics of modern-day capitalism. Corporate advertising practices and theories prioritize the acquisition, structuring and valuing of physical and virtual space as textual commodity. This has resulted in a capitalistic assault of public space … For this exhibition, the imagery is ironically presented in a material and design aesthetic reminiscent of a ‘blowout sale’ at a used car lot and/or a ‘closeout sale’ at an independent retail business on the brink of bankruptcy.”
A reception will be held for the artist 4:30–6 p.m., September 8 in Hunt Gallery. The public is invited to attend. Hunt Gallery is dedicated to the exhibition of contemporary work in all media by regionally and nationally recognized artists. The gallery is open 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday through Friday during the college’s academic year. Hunt Gallery’s schedule for the 2014–2015 academic year can be found online.