Though normally operating behind the scenes at Packer Schopf Gallery, Dominic Paul Moore has moved into the limelight with his newest collection of paintings and drawings, “You’re Gonna Love it Here.”The assortment of gouache and graphite drawings, pulled from vintage medical guides, are striking in their honesty, ranging in size and jumbled together in an eclectic collage of images. In their whittled simplicity, Moore’s graphite renderings feature a sinister, cynical feel, suggesting our safe havens are rarely as benign as we presume. In “Shhhhhhh, It’s Ok,” a medic looms over an unconscious woman who, in her docility, implies a certain level of victimization, leaving one to wonder whether it was the man by her side or some other exterior force which brought her to this point. In a peculiar turn, Moore juxtaposes the medical drawings with replications of old Boys Life magazine ads and MySpace pages. The ads, though remarkable in their technical execution, are more spiteful than cynical, made even more so with callow titles such as “We Are The Whiteys The Mighty Mighty Whiteys.” The Web pages, though as gaudy as the real thing, make up what they lack in aesthetic appeal through theory, pulled together by Moore’s interrogation of space, both social and personal. Such disparate images can be irritating at first, but Moore’s concept is impressive, inviting a peek into the artist’s world—and demanding a reevaluation of one’s own. (Jaime Calder)
Through June 21 at Aron Packer Gallery, 942 W. Lake.
Repurposing AI: A Review of Stephanie Dinkins at Stamps Gallery While this show is timely for everyone, I consider its setting within a university art gallery and emerging tech hub like the city of Ann Arbor a subversive provocation which Dinkins invites the greater public—including members of the university community—to consider our own positionality to AI and technology.
