Mounir Fatmi, Maximum Sensation, 2016, Skateboards, prayer rugs, approximately 90" H x 192" L x 12" D.

SPRINGFIELD, MO.- The Springfield Art Museum is pleased to present Tradition Interrupted, is now open in the Eldredge, Spratlen, and Armstrong Galleries. Tradition Interrupted is an international group exhibition that explores the methods used by artists to conflate contemporary ideas with traditional art and craft in a range of media, from rugs and mosaics to metalwork and ceramics. The twelve featured artists merge age-old media and technique with innovation, and re-visioning culturally historic ideas to create new work that interrupt traditional practice but still collaborates with the past.

For generations, traditional craft and art practices held steadfast and often visually defined a culture. Today, artists are unraveling certain traits and facets of these ancient customs to redefine or reclaim them for the contemporary world. For many of the artists in Tradition Interrupted, everyday objects are sources of powerful agency to recall memories in danger of being forgotten, or to call into question revisionist histories. Many of the artists work in a conceptually “uncomfortable” space with the traditions and theories of their past as they create hybrid artworks that address contemporary concepts and concerns.

This traveling exhibition features 23 works including sculpture, installation art, and 2-D objects. Featured artists hail from around the world and include: Anila Quayyum Agha (Pakistan), Faig Ahmed (Azerbaijan), Camille Eskell (U.S.), Mounir Fatmi (Morocco), Ana Gómez (Mexico), Shirin Hosseinvand (Iran), Dinh Q. Lê (Vietnam), Steven Young Lee (U.S.), Jaydan Moore (U.S.), Ramekon O’Arwisters (U.S.), Jason Seife (U.S.), and Masami Teraoka (Japan).

The artists of Tradition Interrupted attempt to reconsider the universal, ageless truths as well as the comfortable and uncomfortable histories of their heritage. By doing so, they unearth transmissions of the past as a means to explore the future. The final task is left to the viewer: to consider aspects of the past, embrace current and future traditions, and reflect on what these shifts and changes mean to all of us moving forward. Tradition Interrupted was organized by Bedford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA. 

Faig Ahmed, Hal, 2016, handmade woolen carpet, ed. 2/3, 107” H x 64” W x 16” D; Courtesy of the Rodef Family Collection, San Diego, CA.

Mounir Fatmi, Maximum Sensation, 2016, Skateboards, prayer rugs, approximately 90" H x 192" L x 12" D.

Anila Quayyum Agha, Teardrop (After Robert Irwin), 2016, polished stainless steel with mirror finished, halogen lighting, ed. 2/8, 46” diameter; Courtesy of Talley Dunn Gallery, Dallas, TX.

Camille Eskell, Taskmaster Fez: Avadim (we were slaves), The Story of Joe, 2016, digital imagery, felt, silk, mixed media, mirror, wood pedestal, platform, 50.5” H x 18” W x 18” D.

Ramekon O'Arwisters, Mending #34, 2018, fabric, ceramic shards, 14” H x 11” W x 10” D; Courtesy of Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Francisco, CA.